Sweet Disposition
by Twilight Anarein
Summary: Takes place three years after the original story, a young aspiring musician gets her dream of living in the palace with the king and queen, and she can only make this happen by playing the song that can captivate anyone's heart.
1. Lovely Rose

**A/N: Okay, I know what you're probably thinking. 'Twilight_Anarein has started her third fanfiction for some random anime and she didn't even finish her first one. Well first things first, my Wolf's Rain fanfic 'Rebirth' is coming to it's close, and should be making a sequel to it very soon...so there's more to come!**

**And second thing is, if you have watched the last episode of Le Chevalier D'eon than you probably expected something to be happy coming out of it. But no, they just HAD to make a really tragic ending and the part where you watched Robin die can make any girl tear up until the episode finishes (unless if you are a Robin fan like me, this is a must-read 'cause this is his own story). And I thought to myself, like many other Le Chevalier fans, they deserve a happier ending 'cause I hate how they ended it!**

**Okay, I will shut up now, and I'll let you read and enjoy yourselves. Comments are always appreciated.**

* * *

**_Stage 1: Lovely Rose_**

Another day has gone by, and the moon gently makes its path in the dimed sky.

The candlelights have bit lit in every house and every street corner, and horse carriages make their way back into the stables and rest for the evening.

There was still some people out and about, some of which were doing some last minute shopping. Others waved to their friends and tell them to have a safe trip home.

And that is how the story ends in Paris, France. Always the same cycle repeating everyday and every year. Or at least…that is what one specific girl thought.

And that girl happens to be staring outside the bakery's only front window.

Oh, Paris… She sighs, My Paris…you change so fast over the years. And yet, you bring the next decade one step closer to us.

She blinks for a split second and lifts up her basket full of freshly made bread. She pushes some dark red hair from out of her eyes so she could count the money that she owed.

"Merci, Miss Gail." The cashier greets her with a charming smile. He starts to twirl his fake moustache into tiny curls, only leaving Gail to laugh about it.

"Bernard, when will you decide to take off that moustache?" Gail said, still giggling over how silly the curls looked, which were indeed out of proportion. "I mean, it's not worth it. You could be like everyone else and wait for it to grow."

"Yes, I know, but I really want to attract some more female customers really badly." He answers breathlessly. "Having all these buff men appear with their ladies in my bakery shop is too much for me to handle. I have a life too, Gail, and it's not here spending my time keeping my bakery in order."

"Bernard," Gail began, just minutes before she decided to put the basket down on the floor. She sighed and answered, "Someday, you will. You may never know when it will be, but I know you'll find somebody soon. It may probably be someone that you know so to speak."

"Yeah, yeah, you're probably right." Bernard smiled again, "I should take it like a man and find my dream girl one day."

"Okay, now that that's settled," Gail picked up her basket and lifted up her pink hood, "I should probably get going. It's either that or the Mademoiselle will get upset with me for being late again."

She hurries for the door, she opens it and that tiny bell that hung up from above it rang oh, so softly. Gail suddenly stops in place and then she looks up at Bernard and says, "Oh hey Bernard! You will be there at tomorrow's event right?"

"That's right, I will be there…don't worry about it too much." Bernard answered sheepishly, still continuing to toy around with his fake moustache. "Maybe at that time, I will take your advice and hopefully find my dream girl there."

"Okay, then…" Gail answered with a nervous laughter. She took off in a heartbeat but then she suddenly skidded to a complete stop and ran back towards the bakery… again.

She opens the door and then she sees Bernard taking his overcoat and keys. He blows the lights out and then he freaks out when he sees Gail standing there in the moonlight, her shadow that cast upon those worn-out beige walls.

"The hell, Gail?" Bernard's voice was still stammering from that aftershock. "You scared the crap outta me! I was this close to literally jumping out that back window and let a horse carriage run over me! Now, what is it that you want?"

"N-nothing!" Gail answers sheepishly, "I was just going to tell you goodnight…somehow I must've been thinking about this new song that I wrote and that the piece is really good and somehow I forgotten to-,"

"Hush." Bernard places a finger on Gail's lips. She suddenly stops to look up to him, even if it was dark, you can still see those tiny lights from the moon glisten in her dark blue eyes. "You worry too much. I'm sure you'll be great, but just do me a favor and just stay calm. We've already been through this little chat before."

Gail understood right away and she starts to nod her head in response. Bernard releases his finger from her lips and then she starts to head her way back home.

From the corner of her eye, she sees Bernard locking up his bakery tight for the night and then he waves at Gail, saying, "Goodnight Gail! I promise I will be there early tomorrow before your piano solo begins!"

Gail smiles, and then she sees the horse carriage pull up right in front of her and she scurries along and away they went into the night.

* * *

The instant that the horse carriage pulls up in front of the gates, Gail immediately steps out of the carriage and closes the door behind her with caution. She gives the man the leftover pocket money she had left and the man lifted up his hat in gratitude, and he takes off on that same street.

Gail continues to look up at those gates, and inside, is the palace. The same one where Queen Marie and King Louis the XIV live in for so many decades. Gail dreamed of going inside that palace all her life. And now, after all these long years and hard work, after so many rejections, the King himself sent her a message that he loves her new piece and he wants her to play it at tomorrow's New Year reception.

Gail looked up at that palace and a smile widened across her face. "And when that time comes," she began, "I'll have my chance to show my King that I am worthy enough to stay at the palace, with him, Queen Marie, the maids, and the knights. And that, will be the day that I'll never forget."

She takes one last look at the place, and starts sprinting towards home. Her house was small and it sits on top of a grassy mountain with a surprisingly beautiful view. Her house was none other than the original regal villa home, but at least it was middle class material and not one of those shanty homes that are directly outside the city.

Her house was owned by an old woman that's not older than 73 but not even younger than 68. Since she was a shrill old lady, and doesn't like to get social with people, Gail and a whole bunch of random folks just go with 71 years old.

Gail looks at that naked, worn-out door and wonders if she will live. Her Mistress, like many other nasty old ladies with no lives whatsoever, gives Gail a curfew on what time she will be out and when she's supposed to come back.

And coming home late is not so much fun for Gail. The last time Gail came home late she couldn't sleep at night because the Mistress beat her with her stick, naked, and she couldn't go to sleep at night with all of the abdominal pains. The thought of it could make any teenage girl shudder, Gail did.

She opens the door slowly so her Mistress wouldn't hear the door creak as she got inside; and she places the basket of bread on the nearest countertop. This works out all the time, well, ever since that day happened she started coming up with this little devious plan by herself.

She sneaked away up the stairs, holding her white slippers in hand so that the Mistress wouldn't hear any noise.

Gail went straight into her room, and went to change back into her maids clothes, since the Mistress would not allow it if she was caught going out with new things to wear. Gail felt thankful that the Mistress didn't sneak a peek inside her closet, otherwise, it's 'beating-up-fully-naked' time.

"Miss D'Costa!" She heard her Mistress roar, for a voice that seemed pretty powerful. "Have you started making dinner yet? I'm so hungry that I could tear apart this entire house and wouldn't even give a damn about it."

"C-coming!" Gail answered, her voice stammering. By God, that woman really scares me.

She scurries down the stairs, not bothering to slip into her white slippers. She didn't even care about letting the cold, white marble staircase leaving that blistery feeling inside the soles of her feet. All she cared about was getting the job done, so she could be home free for the evening without any worries at all.

* * *

It was already past midnight, as Gail continued to gaze at the stars through her own window.

"Oh, Sonny," Gail answered in a soft tone, "If only you were here to sing me your lullaby, it will help me go to sleep quickly and I won't have to worry about making time go faster…which is highly impossible to do."

Gail suddenly looks down at her bed, her eyes started gazing down at the golden pocket watch that just sits there and ticks every second of every day. According to the clock, it was of course 2:30 in the morning, and then Gail let out a huge sigh and fell to her pillows.

"Just four more hours…until I leave this place for good." Gail started to gaze at the sky again, a deepening sadness reaching on her face. "Why won't time go any faster? I really hate being here."

She suddenly sat upright, of course, she remembered something. She scurried up towards her desk and went through all the crumpled up sheets of paper and pulled out yet, and pulled out something small and shiny from within those drawers.

Then she sat back down on her bed and lied her head down on her pillows.

In her hand, was a simple little silver locket, that had a played a lovely little tune when you just open it.

"Sonny's lullaby…" Gail whispered softly, "And I even remember how the song went."

Gail suddenly closed the locket and re-opened it again. This time, she wanted to sing with the rhythm.

_Out of sight, out of mind_  
_Out of time to decide_  
_Do we run? Should I hide?_  
_For the rest of my life?_

_Can we fly? Do I stay?_  
_We could lose, we could fail_  
_And the moment it takes_  
_To make plans or mistakes_

_30 minutes a blink of an eye_  
_30 minutes to alter our lives_  
_30 minutes to make up my mind_  
_30 minutes to finally decide_  
_30 minutes to whisper your name_  
_30 minutes to shoulder the blame_  
_30 minutes to bliss, 30 lies_  
_30 minutes to finally decide_

_To decide_

Just as the locket's tune slowly died away, Gail looked up to see what the time on her pocket watch was. The melody was so soft and mellow, she completely lost track of the time.

"3:07 in the morning…" Gail sighs hopelessly, "Just three more hours left and I'm out of-,"

She immediately starts yawning, her eyes feeling droopy, her vision getting hazy. She fluffs up her pillow and then she finishes her sentence with, "…here."

* * *

_**30 Minutes by T.a.t.u.**_

**A/N: Y'know, back then, when I was still planning out 'Sweet Disposition' it took FOREVER to find the perfect song for Gail to sing, otherwise, her theme that is. So from now on, through most of the story, you'll probably see the lyrics at random somewhere. See ya until the next chapter! ^_^/**

**Twilight_Anarein**


	2. 30 Minutes Waits for No Man

**_Stage 2: 30 Minutes Waits for No Man_**

"I hope this is the last bag, because I'm not going to carry out your luggage the first thing when you step outside and away from here!"

The Mistress gave Gail the dirty snarl, as she immediately took several steps back. The Mistress herself looks like a demon with horns on her head and the face of an ugliest creature known to mankind…but, then again, that was just what her face typically looks like on a regular basis.

But if you ever see her walking down your pathway, be careful, you'll probably need to carry a bucket with you just in case if you start vomiting.

Gail still continued to look down at what was once her old mistress. And then she said, "Even if we never became good friends, I'm still going to miss you…my Mademoiselle."

The Mistress just looked at her as if she's grown a second ear or something on the side of her head. She scowled one more time and said, "Don't give me any of that crap. You came just for labor and since you finished every single chore that I haven't gotten to do my lifetime, that's why I'm setting you free. The sight of you could make women as old as me die in a heart attack…and get your stinkin' feet of my satin dress!"

Gail noticed right away and saw her foot resting upon the black lace of the Mistress' dress. She freaked out and removed her foot instantly, the Mistress was still pretty ticked about it and she let out a low snarl seconds before she decided to move her long, dressy skirt away from Gail's feet. Or at least… from Gail's point of view.

And just before Gail even thought about turning around to say she's sorry, the horse carriage pulls up in front of the gates and a huge smile was replaced with the hopeless guilt that she had to hang on to for half an hour.

"By God, it's here!" Gail squees the moment the carriage door opened. "You may have been a nasty host, but hey, at least you left me to live with my dreams! So I have to thank you…_thank you_!"

She quickly kneels down at the Mistress' height and leaves a kiss upon her cheek. The Mistress' eyes widened with so much embarrassment, in fact, she never thought once that a cheery, redheaded teenage girl would even think about kissing an old lady's cheek.

Gail rushes down the hill and turns around, waving at her mistress. The Mistress swiped that embarrassment look off her face and brought back her vicious glare, and slammed her door with a lot of force.

Gail didn't care much however; she knew that she will never see the sorry excuse for an old woman ever again.

She sighed and took a good look at her Mistress' house. Just as they finally loaded the last luggage into the trunk of the carriage, Gail finally stepped inside and thought about what's going to happen for the rest of the day.

Just as they took off, Gail watched that 'hellhole' disappear and out of her life. She couldn't stop smiling; the thought of getting away from the torture was her number one priority. She still couldn't believe that the day has finally come.

Just as the saw the fields of roses slip past her, she let out a huge sigh of relief, and thought, _And now…my journey begins. And I already have it planned out. First, I will have a private meeting with the Queen; get to make friends with the maids, get some errands done before I have my live performance tonight. By God, I can hardly wait! Tonight's going to be so much fun!_

Gail sighs once more and lets her dreams start to take over. She just knew right away that tonight, her dreams are just about to bear fruit.

* * *

There was once a clocktower that stood in the south corridor of the palace. People from each corner of the world would come once or twice a year to see this magnificent structure. It was as if, somebody painted it on the empty canvas and breathed life to it.

Basically, it was more like a piece of art displayed rather than something you'd find in a furniture store.

But…that was beyond centuries ago, since it was full of decay and bacteria of any kind, they demolished it, and it doesn't stand there anymore to this day. Instead, they built a new tower, sort of a hangout for the knights to stick around and chat.

A young man about maybe eighteen years old stares out from that broken window. He wears a pale pink overcoat, a purple necktie, a brown vest, black pants and white shoes. He carries a gun pouch around his waist and in his hand, he held a silver pocket watch.

His hair was pretty long, probably up in shoulder length, and his eyes were a crystal blue color, but in the form of deepening sadness dwells within them.

He lets out a hopeless sigh, as he stares at this old watch with a blank expression written on his face.

_Why can't I get this thing to work? _He thought to himself, but not out loud. _I'm back in France aren't I? So…shouldn't I be able to get it to work anytime now?_

He lets out another hopeless sigh and thought, _Whatever. He wasn't kidding. This thing is definitely broken. When there's a miracle, I will know for sure._

His heart skips a few beats just as he heard the door open from behind him. He slips onto the couch and pretends that he didn't do anything so special.

Then, three other men appeared in the room.

First one was a man with long brown hair, which he keeps it up in a ponytail. It doesn't happen to look as long compared to when you see it lay flat on the back of his head, but it was still pretty long, past shoulder length perhaps. He wears a new signature green coat, with a cross-design buttons coming down one side, and there was two black stripes coming down the sleeves.

The second one was a man with extremely long blond hair, he also keeps it tied back in a ponytail, and he was wearing his typical knight's uniform proudly, since he's back at the palace once again.

Lastly, there was an elderly man, nobody knows for sure how old he really was because he's in such good shape (even in this lifetime), and he still stands there, placing the hat with the white feather on it on the center of the table. This guy wasn't any different however; he still decided to wear his signature color…which was black.

"Robin, I don't believe you." The man in the green coat answered to the young man, "We were gone for hours to look for a precious gift for the queen, and you came back with a bouquet of flowers. Why do this to us?"

Robin shrugs as he answers, "I don't really know myself. She happens to like them, and I did see that her flowers were wilting, so I thought I'd give her some replacement flowers."

"Well I think that's a good idea." The man with long blond hair answers, "Maybe I should buy some and give it as a gift to Anna."

"Well, you should've thought about that a few hours ago before you left D'eon." Robin laughs out loud, "Because I bought a second bouquet already. Oh yeah, before I forget, Queen Marie asked me to deliver a package to you."

"A package?" D'eon looks at Robin as if he said something foreign. "What kind of package?"

"This package," Robin answers as he takes a tiny wrapped up box out of his pocket, "Queen Marie told me that it was special and that it should be taken care of. The Queen said it herself that she didn't even see what was inside, but, she had a feeling that there is something very special in it. And look, there's not even an address, so, it couldn't possibly come from her."

D'eon takes the perfectly wrapped box and gazes at it. He let's his mind slip and starts to pull the inexpensive wrapping paper, slowly. Robin's eyes widen and placed both of his hands on D'eon's.

"D'eon, what are you doing?" Robin answered, his voice reaching a high pitch. "Don't you know anything? You're not supposed to open special gifts randomly, wait until the time is right and then you can open it."

"S-sorry." D'eon answered sheepishly, "For a second, it felt like I knew what was inside this box. But you're so right, Robin, I shouldn't let my fantasies get a hold of me that easily."

"Well, at least that you didn't rip the paper, so that's probably a good sign." Says the elderly man in the back of the room. He pulls up the chair closest to him and sits down; he lets out a huge yawn and pretended as if nothing really 'special' happened.

"Sir Teillagory, you must have found a lot of enjoyment out of this." Robin gives that old guy his cheesiest smile up to date.

Teillagory laughs and then answers straight-on, "Oh, I believe so. Especially since you are still holding hands with one of my favorite students."

Robin glances back at D'eon, Teillagory wasn't kidding around. Robin still had his hands on D'eon, and the instant he looks at his hands he immediately pulls them away from him.

The guy in the green coat gave out a hearty laugher. Robin glares at him and starts blushing right away, "What? Sir Durand, it's not my fault that I let my mind slip through me!"

Durand shrugs as he spoke, "Nonetheless, you have to admit it though, it was pretty funny and cute in a way. With that long hair of yours, you've seem a lot older than you were before. What happened to you anyway? Ever since we regrouped, I couldn't really tell if this was the same Robin that I remembered back then. You really haven't told me anything ever since then. I let it slide then, but now, I demand answers."

Robin looked away from Durand's gaze and said, "I really don't know…I really don't remember anything."  
It was Durand's turn to sigh, he did, and then he said, "Oh well, whatever then, until you remember something, come and tell me. Since New Year is making its way, I'll let it slide, but this is the _last _time I will bring this subject up."

He stood up, fixing his open pockets and then said, "Well, I think a good stroll will do me some good, so, hopefully if I find a gift that's worthy enough for Queen Marie, then my life will be one step closer to being completed."

Just as Durand leaves, Robin sat back down in his chair and took out Durand's old pocket watch and started to toy around with it…but, just a little bit before D'eon or Teillagory noticed.

Teillagory, however, noticed and said, "Well, well. When did you get that? In fact, I've never seen you take Durand's old pocket watch."

"Huh?" Robin looks up dumbfoundedly, and then he remembers and says, "Oh yeah, three years ago, before you and Sir D'eon went to bed, Durand and I had a little talk and he said that I should keep the watch. He thinks that I will be able to live the longest among the four of us and he believes that I could get this watch to start working again. But somehow, I can't seem to get it to work at all. Honestly, I have no idea how to do it."

"Well, you may never know what the future holds." Teillagory answers seconds before he starts yawning. "Just give it some time and the answer will come to you."

"He's right." D'eon answers, he places a hand over Robin's (the hand that's holding the watch) and says, "Don't worry, we'll be there to support you and try to get it to work again."

Robin smiles as he answers, "Sure, thank you. Both of you."


	3. Blackened Lisianthus

**_Stage 3: Blackened Lisianthus_**

_By God…I can't believe that I'm actually here…_

Gail would not stop fidgeting in her seat; she's a few short minutes away by meeting the most loved person in all of Paris…Queen Marie.

_I wonder if my hair looks okay, I'd better fix it now, because I'm meeting royalty…face-to-face!_

She puts down her pink hood and takes the pins that were sticking out and her giant bun of hair comes down flat as an ironing board. Her hair was, in fact, a brilliant shade of red, a deep dark color of red, sort of like the famous wine 'Bloody-Mary'.

"You, have beautiful hair."

Gail gasped as she turned around. She sees a girl in a pretty lavender gown and she also has red hair, but, not as dark as Gail's. She keeps up her curly ponytail tied up in a big pink bow, and she has very short layer of bangs; to Gail, her aura seemed very serene and friendly. It shows on her vivid green eyes, as she stares directly into Gail's calm, blue eyes.

"Wait a second, you're not Queen Marie." Gail answers, picking up the pins that she accidently dropped on the floor when she freaked out. "You seem pretty young to be the Queen."

"That's because I'm not the Queen." The girl in the lavender gown giggles. "I'm only her Lady-in-Waiting. My name is Anna Rochefort."

"By God, _you're _Anna? _The Anna Rochefort_? By God, I have heard so much about you from outside the palace! I hear a lot of stories about you when I go grocery shopping, that you were always sticking around with the Queen and other times where you're taking care of the Queen's son, Prince Auguste. And I heard that you recently married to a knight three years ago! Congrats!"

"Why, thank you!" Anna giggles, "I really love my husband, and he's so good to me. Tonight, once your opening performance is over, I could come and introduce you to him. It's sometimes hard to contact him all the time because he travels a lot with his three companions."

"So, Anna, I see that you've met Miss Gail D'Costa."

Both Anna and Gail spun around, as they saw the Queen standing there, looking really beautiful and elegant in her new, frilly golden gown. (It was obvious that she's trying out the gown for the event that's going on tonight.) She smiled down at both of them. Her blue eyes showing a sign of piece and harmony flowing within them.

"Wow…" Anna's eyes glistened. "My Queen, that gown…gold really speaks to you!"

"Why, thank you Anna." Queen Marie replied, she turned to Gail and said, "And I know who you are, you're Miss Gail D'Costa. Welcome, my darling."

Gail's eyes widened straight-away. She immediately fell to her knees and started to worship her by touching her feet. Both Anna and Queen Marie looked at her as if she was crazy.

"By God…my Queen…" Gail answers when she sits back up again, "At last, we finally meet."

"My word, I've had a lot of greetings, but not one like this." Queen Marie laughed.

"She reacted the same way when I came in, and I thought it was cute." Anna replies, joining the Queen in the moment of pure laughter.

"My dear, you should probably get up now, any minute now, and your legs will be stuck together like glue." The Queen answers at Gail.

Gail blinks, and then stands back up again. The long, red hair flowing behind her looks like as if she was wearing a cape. Both Anna and Queen Marie watched Gail pull up that long beautiful hair of hers back into a giant bun and she pinned it up with all these black pins.

Queen Marie walks up in front of Gail and asks, "Miss D'Costa, don't you know how beautiful you are? Why must you hide all of your beauty up in such a way?"

Gail immediately looks away from Queen Marie's gaze as she answers, "As much as I love to tell you my Queen…I can't do that. In fact, I don't even have the greatest reason to why I do this."

Queen Marie touches a lock of Gail's free hair and Gail looks back deeply into her eyes.

"Well, it can't be helped. It's okay if you don't want to tell me. Surely it wasn't my business at all to begin with."

Gail watches the Queen smile at her, and then turns to Anna and she does the same thing. Gail's eyes shimmer in the late afternoon light, and then she says, "I will tell you why one of these days…I promise."

The Queen lets go of her hair and said, "Now, that will be the day that I will look forward to."

Gail lifts up her hood and says, "My Queen, it's almost 4:30, and I must hurry and go to pick up my gown."

Queen Marie sits down in a regal chair and says, "Then so it shall be. I will ask one of those wonderful knights in the south corridor to get a horse carriage set and ready for you. But of course, since you are staying with us now, I'd say that you need to have a chaperone with you at all times. I suggest that Anna should go with you."

Gail turns to Anna and she sees her face light up with excitement. It seems that she wants to take a peak at the dress herself.

She sighs and makes her decision, "I would love to bring Miss Anna with me."

Anna squees as she says, "C'mon Gail! Let's go!"

She gets a hold of Gail's left arm and they rush towards the while marble staircase.

Queen Marie laughs, as she says, "Oh, my dear Belle, if only you were here to experience this yourself. Trust me, you would've loved it."

"Loved what?"

The Queen turned around, no expression changes or anything of the sort. But just as she saw a very familiar face, then her eyes began to widen in full surprise.

Robin stood a few feet away from where the Queen stood. He brought back the same, boyish cute smile of his and it made Queen Marie's heart melt (well, she treats Robin as if he was her biological son).

"Oh, Robin…look at you…you've grown." Queen Marie shot him back her smile as she walked over and placed her warm hand on his cheek. "You're so tall now…and your hair, you've grown it out! It was as if, time has let go of me and that I have grown old and weary. But, I'm pretty much the same, and now it's my turn to look up at you!"

Both Robin and the Queen laughed simultaneously, and then she paused for a second and says, "Welcome back…Robin. I've missed you greatly."

"I know…" Robin sheds a tear as he spoke. The warm hand that cradled his left cheek was still holding on to him. He placed a hand over the Queen's hand (the one holding his cheek) and says, "It feels like I've come back after a century so I'm…I'm so sorry…"

Queen Marie watches Robin tearing up as he fell to his knees. He felt guilty; it's been almost three years since he last saw the Queen eye-to-eye.

And then she did the most unique thing. She kneeled down at Robin's height and placed her other hand on the other cheek. She said to him softly, "Do not cry Robin. It is not your fault that you haven't come to see me after so long. I know that you're getting too old for me and that you're interested in finding someone else…correct?"

"Please don't say that…" Robin answered, his voice ended up really cracked. "I would never stop coming to see you no matter how old I get."

"And that…"Queen Marie answered, pushing some dark brown hair out of his eyes. "…is what I like about you, Robin. Your very kind, intelligent, and you care so much about our beloved France. Sometimes I wonder if you are actually my son, because I would find myself to imagine you as our next king."

"If I really was your son or not, and if I had to make a certain choice, than my decision is to not become a king. That role is clearly made for your 'real' son, Prince Auguste. He will do a much better job at it than I will. Besides, I love to travel to different places and countries and fight alongside with my friends."

Robin laughs, but Queen Marie still remains smiling as she says, "Well said my dear Robin."

She drops both her hands and then she starts walking toward the huge bay windows. They were really high-arched and crafted with snowy white paneling. Big, golden curtains dropped down from that high arched ceiling, giving it some sort of a regal appearance.

Queen Marie turned towards Robin as she says, "Unless if there's anything else you want to talk to me about, feel free to do so. I grant you my full permission to ask me anything you please. Even if it's something _not _important at all."

Just as Robin opens the door, he turns to look at Queen Marie with those huge eyes of his and they started to glisten in the open sun. He sighs and says, "Understood, my Queen."

He closes the door behind him as he makes his exit, and then he started to wipe those tears off before anyone notices. And he starts making way down the same, white marble staircase that both Gail and Anna took shortly before Robin's arrival.

* * *

"Oh my, check out all these beautiful gowns!"

Anna squees as she runs around the store. Her green eyes glistened as she paid close attention to the big puffy gowns with ribbons coming down the skirts. Gail smiled as she thought, _She's so childish, and it's sort of how I act sometimes. But, what's a girl to do when they find cute clothes anyway?_

However, for a convenient clothing store the building itself looked high class. Besides all the beautiful gowns that you would find covering every inch (and wall) of the store, the overall building design of the store (try to imagine it without the dresses) was pretty epic.

The ceiling was high-arched, a very high ceiling that displays beautiful artwork and has very nice window paneling made so you could get a clear view of the sky. Like all 18th century buildings, the room in the farthest end of the store was equipped with really tall windows and had extremely long, silky curtains drop down from them. The curtains were a magnificent shade of dark purple, sort of the same color that you find on fully ripened plums.

In the heart of the store, there was one of those famous two-way staircases. In the middle (or the heart) of the staircase was a very fancy fountain installed and water flows from it. Look carefully, and you may find some gold coins left behind by the previous century still sitting around in the depths of this tiny pool of water.

A few short minutes later, Gail found herself glancing at all of the beautiful gowns and she started to go after the silky ones with very puffy sleeves that had ribbons sewed on the cuffs of the sleeves. Every girl in the entire store went bananas and was dying to find the 'perfect dress' to woo their dates for tonight's event.

* * *

Just as Anna and Gail were done shopping for the day, they found themselves chatty and all giggly when they left the store. They placed their evening gowns (both Anna and Gail agreed that their evening gowns won't be revealed to anyone, even among themselves, until tonight's event, so they covered them up in black veils) in the back of the carriage and minutes after they did that, they took off immediately.

"So, give me a hint." Gail smiled, "What did you get while I was searching for my gown?"

"I can't say a thing until tonight, you will see, don't worry about it." Anna laughs out loud, "Though I must admit, it feels like I'm a young teenager again."

"But, you are pretty young," Gail answers and starts laughing with Anna. "Just look at you, you are probably old enough to be my older sister."

Just as Gail said the words 'older sister' her smile died away instantly and she started to feel all gloomy and depressed. She looked down at her knees and started to think about her sister.

Anna's laughter died away too and she looked at the gloomy-faced Gail and asked, "What's the matter? You looked so happy and full of energy, but now you look like you're going to be sick or something. Is there anything that I should be knowing about Gail?"

"It's been years since I've seen my sister," Gail began, "Just the thought of her not showing up for my performance really hurts me a lot."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." Anna answers, but then, a glare came to her face as she spoke, "I mean, what kind of sister does not show up for her sibling's performance? That's just plain cruel in so many ways."

"Oh, it's not like that at all, really." Gail answers with a nervous smile, "My older sister was always very good to me. We _never _even fought once in our lifetime. After she turned 20, we went our separate ways, and became solo artists. She wanted to lead her own life her own way."

"Well, that does not sound like being a good sister to me." Anna replied quickly, "It sounds more like she wants to stay away from you, well; at least that's what it sounds like to me."

"I know my sister very well, Anna." Gail said with confidence, "At least she was honest with me and told me to do things her own way. To be honest, I greatly respect all of her decisions-,"

Gail's eyes suddenly became bigger, as she placed both hands over her mouth. There was a vision of a man who was getting beaten up and getting stabbed by a woman, from which, her face cannot be seen since the vision was very unclear. It was as if Gail was watching a movie clip from one of those really old projectors.

"Please…stop doing this…" The man answers weakly, blood dripping from his forehead and gushing down the middle. His nose was dislocated and basically, every part of the face was dripping tears of blood.

But, when Gail suddenly recognized the voice of the man that spoke, she started to let the tears escape freely from her face. (You guessed right. It was Bernard's voice that she heard.)

When the vision disappeared from Gail's eyes, her eyes became really blurry and she fainted onto Anna's lap, since the power of her vision was incredibly overwhelming and filled with so much desire and hatred. Anna, on the other hand, didn't know what was going on and she looked at Gail and screamed, "Oh, my goodness...Gail! Are you okay?"

* * *

Shortly after Gail and Anna's carriage departs into the main road, a shadow emerges from the rooftops of the city.

The person was wearing a long, dark blue cloak, the hood was long enough to shroud her face. You could tell that she was feminine because of the fact that her legs were bare and that she wore a pair of short-shorts. She wore really short purple boots, and that's all that you could ever see from up to this point.

Her clear, blue eyes revealed from inside the hood, as she stares down at the beautiful red flower with a sharp glance. She picks it up with her hand, and gently plucks the petals, one by one.

"So, I've finally found the one who is known as the 'Lovely Rose that Never Wilts'." A fiendish smile reveals in the blistering sunlight as she says, "Wait 'till she meets a black Lisianthus."

Just as she was down to her last rose petal, she just simply plucks it off and she drops the thorny stem and it falls down swiftly and into a deep puddle. She watches a random horse carriage run over the bare stem. As the thorns have been crushed and simply bobbing up and around the puddle's barrier.

"Oh yes. Just wait Miss Lovely Rose." She smiles again, "Things are definitely going to be very interesting."

* * *

**A/N: Hey, it's me! :D**

**Anyways, I've given it some serious thought, and I finally made my decision and I will represent a few songs by the band 'Tatu' for the rest of the story. They have songs that surprisingly match my story's overall theme so give them the full credit for the song lyrics not me! I'm no song writer! (Though I wish I was...I'm just a person who loves to draw and write stories all day long forgive me... ^^;)**

**-Twilight_Anarein**


	4. Mission Impossible

**_Stage 4: Mission Impossible_**

"_Gail_…"

"…"

"_Gail, are you awake_?_ The party's about to start in a few hours and you're not even dressed up yet_!"

Gail's eyes immediately fluttered right open. Her vision was a little bit blurry, but at least she could catch a glimpse of the candlelight that was right beside her.

Anna sat down at her bedside, wondering this entire time if Gail had been alright. She immediately turned around to see Gail sitting upright, rubbing her eyes. Anna then, made a huge sigh of relief as she said, "Oh, my goodness. I'm so glad that you're okay. Ever since you passed out, you left me there to worry for hours and hours."

Gail immediately reaches out her arms as she said, "Sorry, Anna. Anyways, how long was I asleep?"

"Pretty long." Anna quickly answered. "You've been out cold for the rest of the afternoon."

When Gail's eyes came to, she noticed Anna all prettied up and raring to go. Her beautiful red hair was curled up and she left it down this time. Instead, she wore a purple velvet hairband in place of the pink bow she commonly wears, with two tiny white ribbons coming down both sides of the band. Anna's gown consisted of a v-neck shaped blouse, with frills coming straight-down the middle. It was a very bright shade of periwinkle, and there was a row of ribbons that where sewn onto the thick skirts of the gown. She had big puffy white cuffs that seem to have covered every inch of her arm but not enough cloth to cover the hands. Her nails were painted in purple nail polish, and her lips were dressed in purple lipstick. (She's probably doing that to woo her husband D'eon and hopefully, get a chance to kiss him again ever since they got married three short years ago.)

Immediately, Gail struggled to find her belongings and tried to pull out the song lyrics that she had written, specifically, for tonight's New Year's celebration. She ripped open the bag and threw everything out. Hair accessories, maid's clothes, her regular clothes (hence, hooded cloaks), the pocket watch, the locket – but, her book of song lyrics were nowhere to be found.

Gail started panicking, "But, I know that my song lyrics were in here…they just have to be!"

Gail went and searched through her other bags some more, this time, with Anna's assistance. The two continued to search thoroughly until they were down to nothing.

Everything was either thrown across the room or placed to the side (such as her locket and the pocket watch). Anna placed her hand in the bag the final time and finally she said, "I'm sorry Gail…I couldn't find them."

"W-we'll keep looking! T-They should be here! I would know, because I-,"

She immediately broke mid-sentence and then she remembered what happened. Anna just stared down at Gail with a confused expression written on her face.

"By God…" Gail answered softly, her hands began trembling. "My _Mademoiselle's _house…I remember that she was taking a couple of books down the stairs last night, she might have gone inside my room and took my book that was filled with song lyrics…"

Gail pictured that thought inside her mind. The part where the Mistress was carrying a stack of books downstairs while Gail was making final dinner preparations. While Gail was placing some of the plates of food (and the fresh bread she bought) on the table, from the corner of her eye, she could've sworn that she saw a pink-cover book with words engraved on the side that said, "Gail's Book of Songs." (It was written in French with a dark, silver ink pen.)

Anna blinks, but then she starts smiling again. "Oh, that's good to hear! At least it was somebody you know that has it and not some complete stranger. Since we have at least two hours left to kill, we can ask Queen Marie to a quick ride to your place and we could pick it up until-,"

"She'll skin me alive if I ever show my face back at that house!" Gail started panicking. There was whole bag load of sweat drops pouring down her forehead and believe Anna, it was not a pretty sight to behold. We all know what a terrible host Gail's Mistress can be, so, she has a good reason to be freaking out at a time like this. "I'm telling you, Anna, that woman is beyond _evil_! She somehow figured out about my late arrival last night and she snuck away into my room and grabbed the book while I was making dinner! I swear, she was probably born having eyes on every side of her head!"

"Somehow, I find that a bit hard to believe," Anna laughed hysterically. "I mean, don't you think you're _overreacting_…just a little bit?"

"Anna, listen to me." Gail began, giving Anna her heart-piercing glare. "I'm dead serious; this was her last chance to get rid of me. For good. She was smart enough to know that I'm visiting royalty so that's why I didn't get beaten last night."

"Wait, _beaten_?" Anna gasped so loud, you could hear it directly outside Gail's room. "_You _used to get beaten? What'd you do?"

"Nothing too serious…but, I did daydream a lot and come home late. She used to tell me to get undressed and beat me with her cane. Let me tell you, it is _not fun_." Gail quivered at that same thought again. "There are still a couple of bruises here and there, but they did go away after a while. The hardest part, however, was whenever I start to go to sleep every night, I was never able to at all. The abdominal pains keep me up at night and sometimes I find myself crying…_all the time_. It was _awful_…"

"Oh…you poor thing…" Anna's smile died away, as she looked at Gail with so much concern. She touched a lock of Gail's long dark red hair as she says, "It sounds awful by the way you mentioned it. If only there was a way that I could help you get back at her…if only my husband D'eon were here, he'd know what to do at a time like this."

"Hey!" Gail's eyes suddenly sparkled with glee, as she turned towards Anna and says, "That's not actually a bad idea!"

Anna blinked. She had no idea where Gail was going with this. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm saying that…" Gail immediately sprung back up and continued, "I'm saying that we'll go with your idea and get a ride back to that house."

"But…" Anna gave her a look that said 'You're crazy.' "Didn't you just say that your Mademoiselle was a horrible person and that she would skin you alive? And now you're saying that my dumb idea is now a good plan?"

"What size do you wear Anna?" And that was _all_ Gail said. Anna was right, she was losing it.

* * *

Nighttime in Paris has never looked any lovelier.

The birds flew home at night to rest for the evening, and the crickets were fully awake and chirping about. This is a perfect time to go out on an evening stroll. To go on a walk with your significant other, holding hands among the high moonlight…

Or at least, that's what Anna was dreaming about this entire time, and not focusing on the mission so to speak.

"Hello? Earth to Anna! Are you listening to me?" Gail waved a hand in front of Anna's face. As Anna, on the other hand, was too busy gazing at the stars thinking about her beloved D'eon.

"Hmm?" Anna answered back, feeling very dazed around everything around her.

Gail just sighs, and then says, "You _do _remember the plan…right?"

"Huh?" Anna broke free from her tiny little fantasies and continued, "Oh, oh sorry! I was just thinking about how romantic it will be to walk out on an empty street such as this one!"

"Uh, I hate to have to break up this moment and all," Gail began, letting out another sigh that meant 'Good Grief…', "But, we're standing on an empty street where there are rarely any people outside and that we're both wearing knight garments. We're supposed to act like _men _and not girly men."

Anna stared down at what she wore. She went from a beautiful, bright periwinkle shaded dress to something…completely manly. She had her hair tied up to look like a man's, with a white bow in her hair, a red coat with a fair-sized collar. A huge, pink bowtie, a faded beige vest, and brown pants, topped off with glossy white shoes.

Anna then turned her gaze to Gail's direction and said, "At least my hair doesn't reach fifty feet long."

Gail glanced at her long red ponytail that reached down to her legs and said, "Oh, shut up Anna, even guys these days grow their hair as long as mine."

"Yes…" Anna giggled, "But not _that _long. And look, there are some women inside giving you those looks."

Gail turned her head at the direction of the house that Anna pointed at. She saw two lonely women who may be in their late thirties, giving awkward looks at Gail. She blinks and waves at those women nervously.

"Anyways…" Gail started (she pretended that she didn't see them), as she grabbed her golden pocket watch right out of her pocket. She looked at the time and continued, "We should probably get the book back before the party starts. We've got a full hour and thirty minutes to do this."

Just as the next horse carriage pulled up in front of them, they got in without any hesitation, and they took off on the empty streets. Gail watches the buildings slip past her, as Anna stares at her admiringly.

Gail wore a teal petticoat, with a velvet white necktie and she wore a dark gray vest that was buttoned up completely. She wore black pants and gray stockings with white glossy shoes.

"Even if you decided to wear something almost colorless, you look sort of…attractive." Anna giggled.

"Please don't tell me that you fallen in love with me." Gail answered with a deep sigh. "I'm only dressed like a man so that I can get my book back. Please leave me to sulk over my insanity; because, I'm never going to do this again…okay, this necktie is really starting to bother me."

Gail started to undo her necktie, and she immediately started to toy around with it. The driver in front caught a glimpse of it and started giving her (from his eyes, he honestly thought that they were men) funny looks, the same ones that the women gave Gail minutes after they had left.

Anna leaned over and whispered into Gail's ear and said, "You should probably put the tie back on, the driver's sneaking peeks at us."

Gail turned to see the driver peeking and then he blinks and now his gaze started to focus on the horse that was pulling the carriage.

She sighs once more and started to put the tie back on without a response whatsoever.

Just as the driver pulled up closer to their destination, Gail and Anna immediately get out of the carriage and just gave the driver the pocket change. Just after Gail and Anna started to make way, the driver pulls away and still gives Gail the strangest looks.

Both Gail and Anna looked up to see that old, worn-out creaky house that sat atop the hills all by its lonesome.

"Wow, just look at that view!" Anna stated in complete awe. "It would be such a dream come true if D'eon and I bought a house with a beautiful hilly scenery such as this one!"

"D'eon?" Gail looks at Anna awkwardly as she continued, "Is that the name of your husband?"

"That's right, Gail." Anna giggled once more. There were blush marks spreading across her cute, childlike face as she spoke. "D'eon de Beaumont, is my husband."

"Wait a second; does that mean you're married to the younger brother of the late Lia de Beaumont?" Gail's eyes glistened with joy. "Now, you must really introduce me to this man!"

"Hey, wait a minute." Anna shot Gail her cheesy grin and said, "I thought you said that we should act like men and not 'girly men'."

"Hey, if we continue this interesting conversation and if starts to get out of hand, then I'll leave you behind with my horrible host…the _Mademoiselle_."

Gail goes up the stairs, feeling a bit agitated. Anna looks at her and makes faces while she follows her up the stairs. You could hear Anna saying things like 'Teenagers these days…so moody.'

Just as the two reached the final step, they immediately glued themselves in place. Gail saw the candlelights flickering from inside and that usually means that the Mistress is about to do her daily 'Early Night Bullying' routine. That's probably the only the only thing she does to cleanse her pitied soul.

Gail makes a hand gesture at Anna telling her to come and hide with her behind the bushes (so typical) so that they can review the Mistress' dirty actions at full screen view. (Sort of like daytime television perhaps.)

Just as the door opens, the candlelight blinds everything in sight…or at least, its close surroundings. The Mistress, as scary as she is evil, walks out with her titanium cane, (that's right, titanium) and takes a good look at the sky. (She's probably creating new ways to torture kids and teenagers.

So, she starts making way down that staircase, and as a matter of fact, stops at the middle of the huge stairway just to blow her nose with a tissue that she randomly pulled out of her pocket. And then the snot-covered tissue goes back inside her coat pocket.

Both Gail and Anna looked at her with disgust written on their faces.

But, they still continued to view her actions, and they watched her leave the gates and off she went…just like that.

When Gail immediately signified Anna that it's finally safe to get inside, they already heard kids screaming and teenagers crying hysterically. They both sighed, and then Gail sighed, "Let's go inside, grab the book, and just jump right back out before she gets any funny ideas."

"Are you _sure _that this is the _same woman _that you mentioned earlier?" Anna quivered at the thought where she first saw the Mistress' face and still continued on. "If I'm clearly mistaken, that doesn't look like the person that I imagined her to be at all. Even if you told me that she was incredibly cruel to you, I thought at least she may _have some_ sign of beauty, but she has _no sign_ of it at all!"

"That's what a lot of people told me too." Gail answered sheepishly, pulling out a hair pin from inside her coat pocket. She started to jam the thing inside the doorknob, and gave it a little twist to the left and cracked the door right open like an eggshell. "Some people thought that she was my grandmother, but clearly we're not related by blood or in any sort of way for that matter."

"I can see that." Anna answered, as she decided to search for Gail's Song Book in the kitchen. "You're _way _too beautiful to be related to her."

Gail laughed and the only thing she said was, "Thanks Anna."

Just as Gail reached the white marble staircase, she immediately ran back down and said, "Hey, Anna, I'll leave the first floor to you. I'll take the second floor."

She starts running back up the staircase, as she starts to look in the guest room. She opens the door and starts doing some serious snooping. She undid the bed sheets and looked under the mattresses, she searched through the drawers and tossed everything she had her hands on and threw it out like trash. Nothing.

Anna, on the other hand, was already onto the second room of the house…the reading room. She looked through each and every bookshelf (one huge circular one that was attached to the walls and three normal ones in the middle of this huge, circular shaped room. A lot of books and really old papers have been either thrown or put to the side, and still…no song book.

Anna let out a huge sigh, and started to holler. "How are you doing on your part Gail?"

Gail answered back from all the way upstairs, from what Anna heard, it sounded like, "Not so well!"

"I'm in _her lair_!" Gail added, lifting up a pair of bloomers with a full disgusted look on her face. These bloomers looked like that they haven't been washed for months…or centuries for that matter. There was a whole mountain of filthy clothes and bed sheets everywhere. _So, this is why she never lets anyone come in here…_ Gail thought to herself, but not out loud. She tossed the nasty underwear and continued to look around. _Nobody wouldn't expect a dirty room, they would find her to be clean and poised. Sure. Let's have it at that._

Just then, Gail noticed something shimmering in the depths of this dark room, as she was drawn close to it as if it was calling out her name. Just as she got close, there was a book sitting on a surprisingly, clean desk that had the words 'Gail's Song Book' in a sparkly font.

Gail squeed, and grabbed the book. She hid it deep inside her coat and had it tied to her belt.

That's when she heard Anna scream.

Not only did Gail's eyes widened due to the scream, but just after she caught a glimpse of the time on the Mistress' grandfather clock (she was thankful that the Mistress has 'some' light lit in the room) her heart also started racing because now they have a full hour to go back to the palace, get dressed, and then, it's Gail's turn to shine in the spotlight.

She raced downstairs to see if the Mistress was back yet, and then, she saw Anna. Waiting for her with a friendly smile at the back door.

Gail looks at her with a weird glance and says, "What happened? For a second, I thought that you saw her come back."

"Oh no, it's not like that at all." Anna giggles, "A few minutes ago, when I was placing the books back upon the shelf, I saw a huge spider crawling up my hand and I was so scared that I beat it to death with one of her books. You don't think she will mind the little stain on it will she?"

"I doubt that she will notice." Gail laughed. "Her eyesight isn't the greatest sight in the world believe me. Now, we should get going, if we still spend time here, it won't be long until she gets back."

"I agree," Anna quickly answered as they came back outside. "I just want to get out of these dirty clothes and back into my beautiful gown."


	5. Blue Musketeer, Show Me Your Love

_**Stage 5: Blue Musketeer, Show Me Your Love**_

"This is it. The night we've all been waiting for."

A man with long, blond hair and a medium weight layer of bangs sits across his clean face. Even if this guy was wearing a dark hooded cloak, he prefers to keep it down. (Probably because he has nice hair and doesn't want to ruin it.)

He immediately sits down beside a woman; a woman that we remember had a pair of short shorts, a purple hooded cloak, and a pair of short boots. Now this time, her hood lay flat down her back. (It was _that long_.) Her face, revealed a stunning beauty that can penetrate any young bachelor's heart.

She appears to be at least twenty years of age, since her eyes were slanted and small, with glistening crystal blue pupils lingering in the broad moonlight. Her hair was cut short like a boy's would have it. It was a beautiful shade of dark purple and a layer of long bangs covered the left side of her face.

She was the face of a true beauty…and she has the heart of a coldblooded killer. In this story, you can determine their emotions by just looking into their eyes and seeing what they're thinking about.

"You remember the whole plan right?" The man with blond hair speaks. "New Year is just a few ten minutes away, and are you up for the task?"

"I'm more than ready." The lady in purple answers as she swiftly got up and on her feet. She brushes the hair out of her eyes and says, "I already have my opening act planned out. I will show this world that the Black Lisianthus can show some love for this screwed-up world of ours."

The man with blond hair watches her run directly towards the palace courtyard, and she disappeared into the shadows…without a simple trace left behind. And just like that, she was gone. As if the flame of a once-lit candle had gone out.

- -

Only five minutes left until the two big doors open to all.

The place was packed with people; almost everybody in Paris has arrived in just a blink of an eye.

On one side of the room, you see all these beautiful women dressed up in their finest gowns and they were wearing masks to hide their identities. Well, the plan officially worked out quite nicely, the handsome gentlemen on the other side of the room were completely wooed with the ladies and their lovely masks and gowns.

Especially our four musketeers.

From behind the sky blue mask, was of course, Robin. In fact, that was his signature color after all, the best color of blue is of course sky blue…well, and that's what Robin thought at least.

The green mask was Durand, white mask was D'eon, and Teillagory was the black mask. (You get the idea. They all wore clothes that correspond with their signature color.)

"Where's Anna?" D'eon whispers to Durand's left ear, "I can seem to find her through that crowd of women."

"Oh, sorry. Could you repeat that again?" Durand responds also with a whisper into D'eon's right ear. "Those women over there are shooting me the looks and I just couldn't help myself."

Robin rolls his eyes and says, "Wow."

Durand flips some of his brown hair from out of his face and says, "Don't say that you don't love it. Honestly, it _pays _to be a French noble. Because, you can still live out a luxurious life and can still be able to do normal things all at once. It's a win-win."

"Yeah, but, what does that have to do with women?" Robin laughs, as a manly-looking lady gazed over Durand in awe. "I mean, really. Don't you think you're taking this…I don't know, a bit too far?"

"Oh, Robin." Durand answers back sheepishly, and places a hand on top of Robin's head. (He always loves to do that with him _all the time_.) "Oh, kind and caring, innocent little Robin. Just take a look around you. D'eon, is already married to Mademoiselle Anna, and Teillagory, he may be already looking for a second wife so to speak. While, I am still a bachelor, I can still do whatever I want until I find myself the 'Perfect One'. You should start soon too. So, Robin, how old are you right now?"

"Y'know, I'm not exactly _that_ little anymore. I'm just up to your shoulders now." Robin answered with a cough. "Anyways, I'm eighteen, and how do you know for sure that Sir Teillagory is looking for a second wife?"

"Eighteen? You don't sound too sure of yourself. Well, in any case, that won't matter because if you don't find yourself a lady soon, you won't become a true man until you do. And that's an easy one, because, the Master _never talked_ about his wife once."

"You guys." D'eon came rushing back towards the two and continued, "The doors have opened, and they're going to lock you guys out if you don't run along."

"R-right." Durand answers behind D'eon as the three started walking up towards the main banquet hall. But then, Durand turns to Robin and the only thing he says is, "I may not be the cupid, but I know that our 'Perfect Ones' are inside this room."

"Sure…" Robin answers sarcastically. "Like I would fall in love with a complete stranger in a New Year's event."

Just as Robin closed the door behind him, at that same, particular moment, Gail and Anna already came barging inside. (But not the same door that Robin and the other musketeers took, now that will be a problem.)

Both Gail and Anna were a complete mess. They were completely soaked from the rain and there were stains of grass on their once-shiny, white shoes.

"So, this is what it's like to live as a knight." Anna answered, with a short amount of breath. "You know something Gail? Let's be thankful that we're born as women. Because, I'm never going to do this for a long time as long as I live…"

Anna then made her way up the two-way marble staircase, as she ripped off the white bow from her hair, letting her curly red hair fall into place. As for Gail, she started to trail up beside her and gone like that.

- -

The main banquet hall inside the palace…was a sight to behold.

The entire area was completely redecorated. There were new royal blue drapes coming down from the window panes, re-painted thrones for the King and Queen to sit upon, and one extra throne for their son, the lovely Prince Auguste himself. Of course, they also have all the tables and chairs removed from the premises (for now), because…it was a night where you speak the language of music and dance. Well, that was all King Louis' idea, since the late Queen Elisaveta chose to do a Masquerade Ball every Tuesday of every year, King Louis decided that it was such an old fashioned idea from the start.

"I must say Louis; you have outdone yourself this time." Says Queen Marie, shooting him the same smile that he loved with they first got married years ago. "I cannot wait to see how many people attempted on tonight's overall theme. Anyways, have you chosen the name for this theme yet?"

And thus, he created a theme where…it doesn't even have a name yet. That was King Louis for you; he would get all of these wonderful ideas, but never came up with any names for them.

But he lied and said, "Uh, maybe not now my Queen. The name is a surprise and should be kept secret until further notice."

Queen Marie, on the other hand, sighs, and says, "You don't have a name for this theme do you?"

"Not exactly…" King Louis answered, while scratching his nose. "But I don't wait to call it a Masquerade Ball…it doesn't even involve dancing, just people hiding their identities with masks."

"Don't push yourself too hard, dear." Queen Marie says, pushing some silver hair away from his face. "In fact, we've never exactly done a Masquerade before. So, it'll be the first for us at least."

"You may be right." King Louis answers with a hopeless laugh. "And I'm sorry for even trying."

"Well, I don't know about you, but, a whole lot of people have fallen in love with your 'idea'."

Queen Marie turns directly at the crowd, as they immediately start cheering with utter joy. They hear soft music playing, and immediately, the whole room started searching for dance partners. The whole crowd continued to search for partners until there wasn't any left.

That just left the four musketeers standing around all by themselves, jaws dropping and eyes widened.

"Wow, those people are fast." Robin says, his big blue eyes suddenly getting wider.

"That's because most of the men in Paris already have chosen their dates." Durand sighs, hoping that he was one of those men. "Unlike us, the four Frenchmen that are so hooked onto bringing peace to our beloved Paris in any way we can, we never get any time to socialize and find someone."

"That's fine. The party's only begun anyway. Surely more people will be able to show up who knows?" Teillagory answers with a hearty laugh.

Just then, a lady (she appears to be in her late sixties) with a piercing multicolor dress appears out of nowhere, and while Robin and Durand turn away, Teillagory whispers into D'eon's ear and says, "Don't tell them, but I already found myself the greatest fish in the sea."

D'eon smiles and watches Teillagory sneaking away and already wooed the women with his 'Gentlemen Greeting' skills.

"But, Sir D'eon has Mademoiselle Anna." Robin answers while ripping off the blue feather that dangled randomly on the side of his mask. "I doubt that she'd go and dance with another man at this state. Clearly, she loves Sir D'eon with all her heart."

"But, I can't seem to find her." D'eon quickly says, joining in Durand and Robin's 'special conversation about women'. "She promised to meet me by the gates, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I tried asking Master, but he already left with his date."

"He's got a date?!" Both Durand and Robin answered simultaneously. Their eyes wide with shock.

"When did _that _happen?!" Robin asked once more, as he still cannot believe what he'd just heard right now. "He was just here…with us! I thought he went to get a drink!"

Just before D'eon could even try to answer Robin's question, Durand interrupts by saying, "But then again, the Master _is quick_ on his feet. I remember three years ago, the night when all of us formed into the 'Four Musketeers', the Master and I stepped into the bar and a lot of women fell for him. Either it was the fact that I told them he was eighty years old or that he is in fact, a fencing legend."

"You _told _those women that he was _eighty_?!" Robin answered angrily. "Why on earth would you go and tell them that??"

But Durand just shrugs and just starts to search for a dance partner.

Robin, on the other hand, lets out a disturbed groan and says, "The nerve of that guy! It's just plain cruel to walk into a bar at night and tell someone how old they are at random!!"

D'eon placed a hand on Robin's shoulder and says, "Calm down, Robin. Today is New Year's, so we should be enjoying ourselves and not fight."

"I'll try not to." Robin answers with a sigh.

Just then, the whole hall that was once filled with soft music and laughter slowly died away. Durand comes back and asks Robin or D'eon what just happened. The three suddenly turned around as they saw the doors on the second floor of the banquet hall (now transformed into a ballroom floor), come bursting right open.

Two, beautiful girls (Anna and Gail), stepped out into the light. The entire crowd from down below stood there with awe to gaze at their beauty.

One we know is wearing a periwinkle dress, but she (Anna) adds a mask that takes the form of a beautiful butterfly taking flight.

The girl beside her (Gail) was wearing a red and white dress. The dress almost matched her hair color completely. Her dress was a U-shaped blouse, with some white fabric coming down the center, sort of like how Anna had it. Her sleeves were very tight, with very open cuffs with some frilly white fabric coming out of them. There was black lace tied around the front of her blouse, some around her waist, and some on the bottom of her gown. She had a red ribbon choker followed by a rose pendant. She was wearing a bonnet full of roses in her hair. She wore a different kind of mask with a huge rose sitting on the top right of the mask, a huge stem surrounding the edge, with leaves surrounding the rest of the area to top it all off.

Just as they finally reached the last step of the staircase, Anna catches a glimpse of the 'White Musketeer' (D'eon) that came at her direction. She smiles as he draws closer to her, as he says, "My, you look very lovely…Miss--,"

"Social Butterfly?" Anna completes his sentence for him. She smiles and says, "That _is _my name…but only for tonight. If it is a dance that you seek, then so it shall be. I'd be delighted to dance with you."

D'eon looks at her and he smiles back. He takes her hand, and kisses it, and says, "You've answered all of the questions that I was hoping to ask you. In doing so, I accept that offer. Allow me to make this a night to remember forever."

Anna squees as she turns to look at Gail for only a split second. The only thing Anna said was, "I wish you luck for your performance!"

Gail nods and smiles back. Just as D'eon and Anna disappear, the whole crowd faces at Gail's direction, wondering what she's going to do next.

With her song book in hand, she made way to the center of the room; a long glossy piano awaits to be played after so many years of its absence. Ever since the palace's best musician died of cardiac arrest, they took that piano to storage to just let it rot and collect dust. Until King Louis discovered Gail, and her amazing talent, he decided that it was time to take out the piano and make it new again.

Gail immediately sat down and rested her fingers on the newly, polished set of keys. She opened her song book to the page that the King wants her to play, and puts her book on the golden stand. She takes a deep breath, since this is her first big performance in a long time.

She didn't have any reason to turn around. She could tell that Anna, her husband and his three friends were staring at her. In fact the whole crowd is looking at her in awe.

She sighs one more time, and then, (the moment you've all been waiting for) she starts playing a few keys. Which caught the crowd's attention really quickly.

_This was an accident  
Not the kind where sirens sound  
Never even noticed we're suddenly crumbling_

_Tell me how you've never felt  
Delicate or innocent  
Do you still have doubts that us having faith makes any sense?_

_Tell me nothing ever counts  
Lashing out or breaking down  
Still somebody loses_

_'Cause there's no way to turn around_

_Staring at your photograph  
Everything now in the past  
Never felt so lonely  
I wish that you could show me love_

Suddenly, she stands up, and starts to play the keys even faster. She jerks her head when she continued to create her notes. All the women in this crowd suddenly started to sing with her in sync.

_Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love, show me love,  
__Show me love  
__'Till you open the door_

_Show me love, show me love,  
__Show me love, show me love,  
__Show me love  
__'Till I'm up off the floor_

_Show me love, show me love,  
__Show me love, show me love,  
__Show me love  
__'Till its inside my pores_

_Show me love, show me love,  
__Show me love, show me love,  
__Show me love  
__'Till I'm screaming for more_

The rest of the crowd, was continuing to look at Gail and the other girls in complete awe. Robin, Durand, Teillagory, Teillagory's date, D'eon, and Anna had their jaws drop right open. (It's as if they have paid a visit to God.)

"Whoa! What a voice!!" Robin answers while he watches Gail playing those keys like a maniac. "I've never heard a girl sing like that before!"

"It's a shame that she's young." Durand sighs, "I would've married her on the spot."

Robin rolls his eyes and says, "Oh, brother…"

Then the six of them turned their eyes to Gail, they see her stop playing the piano and she started to take her red slippers off. She threw them across the room as the guys started to go after it, but surprisingly, those men couldn't find it.

And then, she started to dance along with the other women, and still continued on with the song.

_Random acts of mindlessness  
__Commonplace occurrences  
__Chances of surprises  
Another state of consciousness_

_Tell me nothing ever counts  
Lashing out or breaking down  
Still somebody loses  
'Cause there's no way to turn around_

_Tell me how you're never felt  
Delicate or innocent  
Do you still have doubts where having faith makes any sense?_

_You play games, I play tricks  
Girls and girls, but you're the one  
Like a game of pick-up-sticks  
Played by fucking* lunatics_

_Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love  
'Till you open the door_

_Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love  
'Till I'm up off the floor_

_Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love  
'Till its inside my pores_

_Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love, show me love,  
Show me love  
'Till I'm screaming for more_

Suddenly, Gail rushes through the crowd, barefoot, and then she immediately grabs Anna by both hands and drags her through the group of dancing women, who in fact, took off all their shoes! They did basically every modern dance (like turns, lunges, jumps, etc.) move they can in big, poofy dresses, all remaining in sync.

_Show me love, show me love  
Give me all that I want (3x)_

_Show me love, show me love  
'Till I'm screaming for more_

They heard the music continue to play as Gail went straight back towards the piano to play the last few notes. The whole crowd starts applauding right away as the music slowly fades into thin air.

Just as Gail grabs her song book, a couple of young teenage guys are standing right behind her. She freaks out and drops the book on the floor.

"Nice song, Miss." The tall one answers with a charming smile, "Do you by any chance have more songs related to love? I bet that, if you do, then we could start something special together…you and me. How 'bout it?"

Just as he said that, Gail already picked up her book from the floor and says, "Oh no, no. Thanks for the offer, but, I really should be going…my friends are waiting for me and--,"

"C'mon Miss Lovely Rose!" He answers (talk about rude interruption), it sounded more like pleading. "Why go back to them when I can make your life spent in luxury and surprisingly good fortune? Oh, on second thought, why don't we leave this palace and get married??"

Gail just looked at him as if he was crazy. She's probably right, because, this man looks way too old for her and it looks like he's been married a lot more times that you could count.

Just then, a voice was heard from behind the tall man, his henchmen, and in the center of the crowd, Gail.

"Oh, just stop talking like you're the King of the Whole World. Everyone around here knows that you borrow wealth from the other nobles."

Gail turned to look at the person that said that and she immediately starts going red. This guy was pretty tall (Robin), probably about five-six, but he wasn't as tall as the man standing behind him (the man that begged Gail to marry him).

He was dressed in sky blue, from coat-to-boot. His hair was on the tangy-orangey side of brown, and it reached to about shoulder length. His eyes were a deep color of blue, and just by looking into them, Gail seemed to have felt her heart going up a few beats.

"Don't listen to these morons." He lets out a hand and smiles at Gail, "Come with me. I won't do anything to harm you in any way I promise."

Gail smiles back at him and answers, "You promise?"

Robin nods and says, "I promise."

Gail allowed him to take her hand, as the two walked away from the small crowd of goons. The other men continued to look at Robin with jealousy.

* * *

**A/N:** **I have to go and steal Gail's quote for a short second...By God! - fingers tired from typing so much - That was by far the longest chapter I've typed up to date!**

But, I did like how things turned out, I mean, the overall flow and tension building up in this story. By the way, the song used for this chapter is obviously called 'Show Me Love' by t.A.T.u.

Oh, before I forget, if you noticed the little asterick near the word 'fucking' that means that Gail does not use any profanity when she speaks, she only uses it to the song, I just wanted to point that out to you. (The word is _actually _used in the song, just go to youtube!)

Again, give them the credit for writing that song...not me! Just give me credit for writing up this story.

-Twilight Anarein


	6. The Colors Purple and Black

**A/N: I'm back! :D**

**The concept for this chapter was _really hard _to put together. I'm trying so hard not to put any fillers in here, so bare with me.**

**So, there are three things about this chapter. One, is that I'm putting the same exact scene from stage five in this chapter, which you can clearly see right below this line. Basically, it starts where I left off, those cliff-hangers is what they call 'em. Two, this chapter focuses on 'Lady in Purple' whose name cannot be identified until further notice, so...I'm keeping her real name a secret until then. And three, you'll just have to read it to figure out what happens next, but, you already know that.**

**Now I will shut up again and let you read ahead.**

**-Twilight Anarein**

* * *

**_Stage 6: The Colors Purple and Black_**

"Oh, just stop talking like you're the King of the Whole World. Everyone around here knows that you borrow wealth from the other nobles."

Gail turned to look at the person that said that and she immediately starts going red. This guy was pretty tall (Robin), probably about five-six, but he wasn't as tall as the man standing behind him (the man that begged Gail to marry him).

He was dressed in sky blue, from coat-to-boot. His hair was on the tangy-orangey side of brown, and it reached to about shoulder length. His eyes were a deep color of blue, and just by looking into them, Gail seemed to have felt her heart going up a few beats.

"Don't listen to these morons." He lets out a hand and smiles at Gail, "Come with me. I won't do anything to harm you in any way I promise."

Gail smiles back at him and answers, "You promise?"

Robin nods and says, "I promise."

Gail allowed him to take her hand, as the two walked away from the small crowd of goons. The other men continued to look at Robin with jealousy.

Not only were they being watched by dozens of young, jealous men (all of them wanted to take a gander at Gail) but there was someone else watching them from the other side of the room…the feeling of it was like as if there was an unexpected chill breaks out of the boiler room when it's supposed to be warming up instead.

She comes out with one of those really gothic dresses, with all of the black lace, and frills galore. She is definitely queen of the deep, dank darkness. She takes a black feathered, bat-winged mask to shroud her face to make herself look like a shadow.

Through the mask that she wears, her slanted eyes glistened. As said earlier, a true beauty with a murderous expression. But, something about her expression tells her that she's not ready to kill just yet.

"Time to make this a night to remember…" Lady in Purple answers followed by a small snicker; she takes out a tube of purple lipstick and begins to apply a fresh coat on her lips. "I hope this crowd loves a _puppet show_."

* * *

"I thank you for your help back there." Gail answers to Robin. "A lot of people have been doing that ever since I came here."

"They can't help it because you're very beautiful." Robin smiles as he still holds on to her hand. "Don't take this the wrong way, but, I only said that because it was to compliment you."

"Oh," was all Gail said. "I see."

But just before she saw it coming, she saw Robin look deeply into her eyes as he said, "But I would be honored to dance with you. Because, the other musketeers already have dance partners…except for the Green Musketeer and me. You wouldn't mind me dancing with you…would you?"

Suddenly, a chill went up Gail's spine, according to her expression, this presence doesn't seem friendly at all…but, she tried her best to just ignore it.

_It's probably the weather…_ she thought, but not out loud. _It has been awfully cold this week…_"What is it?" Robin asked Gail, looking very confused. "You don't want to dance with me do you?

"No, no." Gail began; her cheeks began to have a more reddish glow. "Not at all. Actually, never mind. I would love that _very much_. I would be _honored _to dance with a gentleman such as you."

"Okay," Robin gave out a sigh of relief and smiled even wider. He took Gail to the ballroom floor as they start to waltz around the area along with everyone else. Both Robin and Gail were enjoying it so much, they couldn't stop looking at each other. They were pretty much focused on the perfect chemistry that they share (and for the dance itself) than the things surrounding them…like their own little world. (Gail placed her head on Robin's chest thinking, _This is nice…this is really nice…)_

He twirled her around several times, and Gail suddenly lost her footing…but Robin caught her in his arms. Her hands were placed on his chest as she looked up from those red cheeks. He was still smiling, but the other men were still staring at him with jealousy and awe.

Robin didn't care; he still tried to swipe Gail off her feet. Gail played the 'rag doll' and decided to just let him in doing so.

While they were still dancing, Queen Marie suddenly ascends from her throne and everyone immediately stopped dancing and the soft music slowly fades away. They knew right away that she was waiting to make an announcement (it was pretty obvious).

"As you can already see," Queen Marie began, but just before she decided to open her mouth again, she just cuts off that sentence and starts over. She picks up a half empty glass of champagne and says, "Wait, and let me start over. According to what the guards have told me, it is already struck midnight. So, let us make a toast…to welcome the New Year. So…Happy 1749!"

"Happy 1749 to you too your Highness…and your Majesty and you too, our beloved young Majesty!" The crowd answers in unison, slowly lifting up their glasses of champagne.

Just immediately after the crowd started cheering (and drinking champagne), Gail's eyes widened a little bit. She felt another chill coming up slowly on her spine…a stronger sense this time. She knew right away that something in this room didn't feel right.

She looked around the room, in case if there were any unwanted visitors (such as shadows) but…nothing.

But, just before Gail could do anything else, she turned to Robin and just when she could tell him 'thank you' he left. It was like living through one of your precious dreams and then suddenly you wake up…and it's all gone just like that.

Gail's smile slowly died away, and she looked at the floor for only a few short minutes.

But then, she felt a small tap on the shoulder and then the smile she had before grew back on her face as she said, "Bernard!"

Bernard comes (with a common mask on), with a bouquet of flowers and he was in a very nice dressy suit. He was wearing a solid orange overcoat, and brown pants, grey socks and black boots. And the fake moustache was taken off his clean, cut face.

"How did you find out that it was me?" Bernard answered dumbfoundedly. "I tried my best to seal my identity, but…how did you-,"

"You wear the same cologne _every day_." Gail interrupts and then giggles, "And you're the only boy that I know."

"I'm not a boy anymore," Bernard answers followed by a pout, "I'm a _man_. And, I'm here to find the love of my life."

"Oh." Gail giggles again, and then points at the bouquet of flowers, "So that's what it's for. For a second I thought that was meant for-,"

"For you?" Bernard interrupted, and then he pushes some curly brown hair from out of his eyes and says, "I'd give flowers to you any day Gail. But this time, the roses are meant for my one true love…which I should be meeting her in three…two…one…"

Gail gave him the puppy-dog face, and then he let out a tiny laugh and said, "I'm just playing. Of course, I would always have some flowers ready for the lovely lady."

He takes out a beautiful red rose inside of his coat pocket and gives it to Gail. She smiles, and she sniffs the beautiful flower with delight.

And just after he did that, a beautiful young woman shows up in the room. She has dark purple hair, cut short to look like a boy's. Her face was very clean cut also, and her skin was very silky and smooth, it was completely pale…sort of the same skin tone Gail has. She wore a bat-winged mask, and a really dark purple gown, with so many layers of ribbons coming down both sides and on the cuffs. There was a heavy usage of black lace used for her dress. It nearly tied up the entire blouse. (That's right, it's Lady in Purple.)

Gail looked at this woman with awe, even if people think that she is pretty, take a look at Lady in Purple. She may be the Queen of the Damp Darkness, but then again, she was drop dead gorgeous. All the purple and black she wears really speaks to her, as red and white works well for Gail.

"That's my Lady right now!" Bernard chimes, but Gail doesn't pay any attention to him whatsoever. In Gail's eyes, there was a strong sense of aura emanating from Lady in Purple's body. "My dear, Miss Black Lisianthus…don't you look absolutely stunning this evening?"

He gave Black Lisianthus a kiss on the palm of her hand, as she looked away.

Gail watched him do his thing, and she sighed and said, "See? I told you that you could find somebody without that moustache."

"Sure, sure. Whatever, Gail. Anyways, it's almost late and you probably should get going. A maid's work is never always done, so you deserve to have some beauty sleep." Bernard fans his hand in her face just as he said that. "I promise that, we'll hang out tomorrow, but after when I get off work. Lovely performance by the way…I loved it! Alright, goodbye, and I shall go and drop off my date."

He leaves Gail all alone, stuck in a crowd full of dancing couples. She was the only single left at the party. With a few minutes to spare, she finally made up her mind and decided to leave the party instantly. Besides, she doesn't see Anna, Queen Marie, King Louis, Prince Auguste, or…the _Blue Musketeer_.

_He's right, I am tired…_ Gail thought to herself, followed by a yawn. _Now it's my turn to take his advice and get some rest. I've got some work to do tomorrow, and I can't be late._

Just after she closed the main doors from behind her, the entire crowd stared blanklessly in that same direction that she took minutes ago.

They suddenly became really pale, and from the looks of it all, their skin started to turn gray, their eyes suddenly bursting open and pupils turning yellow. There was teardrops and spit coming down their faces, and the 'H:O' mark appeared somewhere on their skin, either it was their necks or their foreheads, it appeared somewhere randomly on the bare skin.

In this picture, they look like undead zombies, but otherwise, in this story, they are known as…_gargoyles_.

And their queen is sitting upon Queen Marie's throne. The person we know as 'Lady in Purple', and by her side, is none other than her strongest gargoyle is none other than Bernard.

"You did a good job in luring her out." Lady in Purple made a tiny snicker just as she said that. She ruffled up her dark purple hair a little bit and continued, "Bernard, you make my missions so much easier. So, why don't we go and enjoy ourselves while we still can?"

"**Anything for you…my love.**" Bernard answered with a deep voice. "**I will serve you as long as you shall be mine**."

"Then so be it." Lady in Purple smiles…at long last. She lifts up her own glass of champagne and says, "Now it's our turn to make a toast…to mark the start of finding the _Psalms of the Revolution!_"

The gargoyles cheered as they lift up their glasses in response. Bernard, being the noble gargoyle, does the same thing.

"Now this is what I call a _puppet show_." Lady in Purple says before she starts to take a sip of her champagne.


	7. Just a Dream Pt 1

**A/N: Hey there guys! :D **

**Somehow, I have find myself putting names on songs for a couple of my chapters. Ah well, it is part-time song-fic so I guess that's acceptible. Oh yeah, I should tell you though, there is a bit of a plot twist for this story, so...keep watch!**

**- Twilight Anarein**

* * *

**_Stage 7: Just A Dream_**

_Part One: Animal I've Become_

"This is it, the first day of the New Year…"

Lady in Purple answers, as she sits down in a regal chair, with a glass of champagne in hand. She sips the drink with a look of concentration among her face. At the time when she already looks up at the sky, here, she sees the sun lighting up the world with its beautiful orange rays.

Bernard, in his new gargoyle-transformation, comes back with another bottle. He takes Lady in Purple's glass and starts to refill the glass with a smooth red liquid. He hands the glass back to Lady in Purple, and the first thing she does, is yank Bernard's necktie. (This is not the only thing she does to get attention around here.)

"I need you to do something for me." Lady in Purple answers before she even thought about letting go of his necktie. "I thought of something brilliant, but, this involves a bit of a partnership. Do you think that you're up for this task? Because, what I'm about to ask you to do is in fact…difficult."

"**Anything for you, my love**." Bernard answers with his new, deep voice (or I should say _gargoyle puberty_). "**I would even sell my soul to the Devil even if you wanted me to.**"

"Oh, no." Lady in Purple answers, handing him back the empty glass. She makes a hand gesture telling him to 'put that on the table'. "I'd rather have you much stay around here forever with me. What I ask of you, is something hard…to do, but very easy to accomplish."

"**I don't think that I can comprehend**." Bernard answered dumbfoundedly, "**You said that it's both easy and hard, but, which one is it?**"

"I'm saying that my task is at an intermediate level." Lady in Purple answered, pushing some dark purple hair out of her eyes. "The hard thing is, you'll need to pass a lot of guards and sneak your way inside the palace. Easy thing is, you'll need to deliver a small package coming from me."

"**And what could that be my love?**" Bernard answered again, trying to brush the breadcrumbs off his brown sleeves. "**I should know what I'm trying to deliver before I go and do it.**"

"Oh, you silly little boy." She stood up, and placed both hands on both his shoulders. Her slanted blue eyes suddenly looked into Bernard's droopy yellow eyes (another gargoyle trait dead ahead). "Packages are supposed to be kept a _secret_. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so special anymore. You understand that part, don't you Bernard?"

"**Oh yes, my love.**" Bernard answered with a very low enthusiasm (when you're transformed into a gargoyle, you begin to show less feelings and enthusiasm for everything…basically, you appear very bored from out of your mind). "**In fact, instead of sneaking inside like criminals, I've got another idea of getting inside.**"

Just as Lady in Purple finally let go of Bernard's shoulders, she finally said, "And, what could that be?"

"**Oh, it's quite obvious.**" Bernard said at last with a grin. "**I'm saying that-**,"

* * *

"What a lovely morning…isn't it nice, Louis?" Queen Marie asked her husband just after she finished brushing her hair.

"I don't see anything special about it." King Louis answered followed by a yawn (it's obvious that he got out of bed just now), "I mean, don't you say that every time you see the sun come up?"

"I'm only saying that because one day, we will leave this world forever and never be able to see the sun's beautiful rays again." Queen Marie responds with a smile, "We should just learn to appreciate the small things in life."

"I'll try to." King Louis answers with another yawn, as he gets his stack of unfinished documents and heads to his study room.

Just after when Queen Marie watches her husband shut the door behind her, she hears him say, "Don't worry about it, I will try to do better at appreciating things this year."

She lets out a small laugh and sits down on her bed, thinking, _Oh Louis, so stubborn as usual. But, that's probably one of the many things that I love about you. You appreciate me for everything that I do, even if you don't say it at times, it says that you do when I look deeply into your eyes._And that's when she heard the door knock. She was used to it after all; right when she's in the middle of her morning fantasies, there's always somebody knocking on her door whenever they have something worked out or other personal things.

"The door's open." Queen Marie answers with a normal tone of voice.

It was none other than Robin that opened the door, and a smile grew upon her face again as she got up. She saw a bouquet of flowers in his hand and a huge smile came upon his face just as he looked into the Queen's eyes.

"Oh, my dear Robin." Queen Marie began, "You came early this morning. Is there something that you need me to do?"

"Actually, there are a few things." Robin answered just as he gave the flowers to the Queen.

"Oh my, these are incredibly lovely." Queen Marie answered, sniffing out the wonderful fragrances. "Did you take your time this morning just to pick these flowers for me?"

"Well, not exactly." Robin answered with a nervous laughter. "This time, they are store-bought flowers. Again, I know it's not much, but-,"

"But I still think it's nice that you did so anyway." Queen Marie interrupted, but in a good way. "Anyways, what else did you want to ask of me?"

"Actually, there is one thing…" Robin answered; his cheeks are going red just by thinking about it. "But I want to go and speak it in private. Because, if we spoke in front of the door, everyone from outside will listen and create rumors."

"Good idea Robin." Says Queen Marie. "Let's go the palace balcony. That's the perfect place to talk about personal things."

Okay, let's go!" Robin chimed, as his big blue eyes suddenly got bigger from that brilliant idea.

* * *

"Wow…it's so beautiful up here!"

Robin looked up at the sky with delight, his eyes still remained the same…or at least, from a few minutes ago, they still remained to be widened from all the excitement.

Queen Marie noticed right away and let out a small laughter, according to what she'd thought right about now, seeing Robin's smile is one of things that make the heavens rise from their hours of darkness as the light shines through the clouds…

And that should be the conclusion to Queen Marie's story. She believes that happiness is the key source of bringing everyone together, and she does not joke or kid around when it comes to little things like that.

"So, Robin," Queen Marie began; she pressed her lips together and said, "Did you have a good time at the ball last night?"

"For the first time, I _actually _enjoyed it." Robin answered with a smile, "Normally, when I go to Masquerade Balls, they usually end up too formal and boring. But, this was the first time that I-,"

Suddenly, he cut-off and a vision of Lovely Rose's (Gail's) face appeared in his vision. He felt his heart skip a couple of beats, and his face went beat-red.

Queen Marie knows what's going on, and she said, "Robin…did you happen to run into someone special?"

Robin pressed his lips together and then he nodded in response. Queen Marie smiled at him still, and she couldn't feel any happier.

"Do you by any chance tell me what she looks like?" Queen Marie asked anxiously, but in a mature sort of way. "I'd like to write her a note telling her to come and meet you here if you wanted me to."

"Oh no, please." Robin waved his hands, a sign meaning 'Don't do this for me, that seems a bit much'. "In fact I love to do things the hard way."

"And…" Robin began, his face becoming beat-red again just by thinking about her, "She is _very beautiful_. I've never seen a girl looking this magnificently beautiful before, it's like as if she came from a whole other world. I don't know what, but, there's just something about her that makes her very beautiful."

"Oh, please Robin, speak what's inside your heart. Tell me everything about her, I promise I would not say a word to anyone about this I swear."

"Well she…" Robin answered, feeling a bit shy. "She has dark hair, I could hardly remember what the color was, and her eyes were like sapphires. I remember the way they glistened under that big chandelier; you just have to look at them carefully. And that's all that I remember exactly…"

"She sounds very beautiful in the way you described her," Queen Marie answered with the same mature, motherly sort of voice. "If it's not too late, maybe you should go and look for her."

"But, that's just it." Robin answered, with sadness coming to his face. "I don't even know if…I'll ever see her again. Ever since the moment we started dancing together, she was all that I was thinking about. I was sad because, before I had the chance to tell her goodnight, she left; it felt like someone came into my dreams and then when I woke up into reality, it felt like it was all a whim."

"I understand…" Queen Marie placed a hand on Robin's, as he looked up through those long bangs and big, deep blue eyes that glistened in the sunlight. "The feeling of being alone…it is a very strong emotion indeed. Everyone feels this way sometimes, but sometimes they may never know how this reaction comes in the first place."

Robin just looked at Queen Marie; he just didn't feel like saying anything up to this point. But he sighed and said, "I should probably go now. Any moment now and Durand will try something to annoy the crap outta me."

"I don't understand," Queen Marie looked at Robin with confusion as she said that. "I thought the two of you get along so well…what's happened?"

"It's a long story…" Robin answered with a dull expression. He turned away and continued, "We just have a history were he eavesdrops on peoples' conversations and tries to rub it in their faces afterwards. Last time I did that, it cost me my face."

Queen Marie giggled at the thought of that, "But, your face seems the same."

"What I meant is that he slammed the door in my face and it was so hard to talk for a while…"

Queen Marie started to laugh out loud when she heard that, and then she said, "Would it do you some good if you let me kiss the spot on her face where you got hurt?"

"Um…" Robin felt a little uneasy when she said that. "If it's my nose, then, I'll be fine with that…but, only for a few seconds."

"Just as I thought," Says Queen Marie, not only that, but she also cocked an eyebrow at him. "You are getting too old for me."

"No, I'm not!" Robin answered, his voice going up a few pitches. "I already told you, I really love coming to see you! No matter how I old I get, I will never stop coming to see you!"

"Aw, that is just too precious."

Both Robin and Queen Marie spun around quickly, but of which widened their eyes with all due respect.

If you already guessed 'who's the person that they're looking at', then, you're right. From a few feet away from where they stood, they saw Durand, in both arms, were some of the ladies he met (some of the maids who will just be in this particular scene only).

Of course, Durand was a beautiful man, and all the ladies adored him whenever he walks down a street corner, but, that's just the thing that makes him who he is. He has a strong passion of finding who he calls the 'Perfect One'.

"Look ladies," Durand answers with a wink, followed by a smile. The sight of that made the maids hold closer to his broad chest. With glistening eyes and beat-red faces. "A mother and her son having a bit of a _relationship _going on…isn't this too precious?"

There was a lot of conversations breaking out between the maids and Durand, as Robin just stood there feeling flushed…and yet, angry. Queen Marie, just placed both hands on Robin's left shoulder whispering, "_Don't be upset my dear…he's only joking around."_

But Robin paid no attention to the Queen; he still continued to look straight-forward towards Durand and says, "It's not even _like _that at all! Y'know, you can really drive me crazy at times!"

"Hmmm…feisty…" Durand says, and closes his eyes to make himself look like a prince coming out of a fairytale. "The good kind. Yup, there will be women out there to praise you…one of these days."

"Shut up, Durand!" Robin answers, with blush marks spreading across his entire face, as his eyes get even smaller due to his anger. "Why do you even consider treating me like a child? For God's sake, I'm eighteen now, and I deserve some respect!"

"You don't sound eighteen at all." Durand answers sheepishly. (He likes the fact that during the whole time, he gets to hold the women closer to him.) "You still maintained the same voice ever since the day I met you. And the only way to earn my respect is to stop making yourself look like a fool."

"Make _myself _look like a fool?" Robin looked at him like he was losing his mind. His face was completely flushed and he's seeing red all over. "You're the one who decided to randomly show your face up here and goof off with your fake lovers and you telling _me _to give you more respect? I've shown so much respect towards you...but you're just too stupid and so blind to even see it!"

Robin stormed his way towards the door, leaving Queen Marie, the maids (not only that, they were also appalled by the fact that Robin called them _fake lovers_), and even Durand was left completely stunned.

Just as Robin reached the middle portion of the spiral staircase, he heard somebody run after him and grabbed his arm. He gasped since the force of the grip was very strong, and he turned around right away. It was Durand, who looked so distraught by what he said.

"What's up with you Robin?" Durand answers with a serious tone, he literally sounds like Robin's father or something. "Ever since our reunion as the Four Musketeers, you've been acting quite different lately…you weren't even the same Robin that I remembered before after when we went our separate ways."

"Let go of me, Durand!" Robin hollered louder, "I mean it, let me go right-,"

Robin started yelling and groaning since Durand literally twisted his arm with his strong grip. Durand didn't care about his pain, he just went on and said, "You and I. I will not make any scenes here, but we will do some serious talking when you decide to come back. I don't mind the waiting…in fact, I can't stay up for days; but there's only _one thing _you should know about me, Robin. There's no point in running away from me, Robin, because _I will_ find you."

He shoved Robin to the side of the brick wall of the stairs, and now it was Durand's turn to storm down the stairs. Robin just stood there, looking completely confused and lost over the entire thing.

* * *

There was a beautiful rose garden that grows in a vivid field that's only but a few feet away from the palace.

It was insanely a beautiful sight to behold, you could see the horizon from here, and you could get a clear view of the church, and the palace. A lot of people show up here whenever they get the chance to unwind and just do peaceful things.

There were a couple of trees growing in this area too. Under one of the trees, there was a white granite staircase, it was cracked so many times during the construction, because, the workers kept dropping in on the ground (or on their companion's feet) since the granite was incredibly a heavy piece of rock. But it still looks it was made a few days ago. Hardly everyone doesn't pay attention to the broken cracks.

Especially Robin, who was just sitting on the middle steps of the staircase, with an empty trail of thought going around his head. He couldn't stop thinking about the cold things that Durand told him a few minutes ago.

_"You and I. I will not make any scenes here, but we will do some serious talking when you decide to come back. I don't mind the waiting…in fact, I can't stay up for days; but there's only one thing you should know about me, Robin. There's no point in running away from me, Robin, because I will find you."_

Robin's big eyes started glistening, not to mention that almost an hour ago he made a complete fool of himself for trying to rat Durand out with his frustration.

He felt like crying all of a sudden, but then, he suddenly pulled out the pistol from its pouch.

It was one of those modern, yet fancy high-class pistols. It was a double barrel pistol, which can shoot at a decent range. There are a few metal attachments that make it seem fancy, and on the side of the handle, there was a word engraved in thick red letters. The word says, "Nqm" (otherwise, it's an abbreviation of the word 'naqam', which means 'to avenge' in Hebrew).

Robin just placed the pistol in both hands, and then grasped them like there was no tomorrow.

"What sort of animal have I become?" Robin answered, not even bothering to open his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut to prevent them from tearing up. "All I wanted was not much…all I wanted, was to see that girl again, at least…one more time."

But then he heard footsteps coming from his direction, and the he re-opened his eyes to see who it is.

"If that's you Durand, that's not funny." Robin answered sheepishly. "I know all of your games, so please stop. I rather much have you yell at my face than play this stupid game."

Through those long bangs, his eyes started to widen.

A girl probably about sixteen-seventeen years old just looked back at him. Her eyes were like sapphires, and from the looks of it, her hair was dark red and tied up into a spiked bun. She had a row of long bangs (it's even longer than Robin's bangs), that came down her face; it was as if many blades came at her, and blood came down her face. And she wore an elegant red dress, with the typical lace, tight-but-frilly sleeves combo. (Yep, that's Gail.)

Robin started to look directly into her eyes, and suddenly, horrible (yet faded) images came to his mind. And the girl that he was looking at seemed to be a part of it.

"_You_…" Robin said with clenched teeth, "Who are you…what are you?"

Gail looked at him with an innocent expression, she has no clue was has been going on.

"What are you talking about?" Gail said sheepishly. "I haven't done anything wrong."

She started to walk up towards Robin, slowly, and then he freaked out a little bit and sprung up to his feet. He went back a few feet, but she kept coming closer to him.

He pulled out his pistol and said, "You…s-stay away from me! Do you hear me? I don't even know _why _you're here, but stay away…_STAY AWAY_!"

He starts trembling, sweating pouring down on every corner of his body. Even his fingers were losing the grasp for the trigger. But as for Gail, she let out a hand and yet, she still continued to smile at him.

"Are you going to shoot me?" Gail cocked an eyebrow at him. "I just wanted to ask you why you're so upset…I could probably help you with your proble-,"

Suddenly, a bullet fired through the left side of Gail's head. Blood started rapidly coming down her forehead, as for everything else around her became completely still.

And then she falls over, letting the pool of her blood flow everywhere in this beautiful field…


	8. Just a Dream Pt 2

**_Stage 8: Just A Dream_**

_Part Two: Rewind_

"Oh, pretty please, Gail, tell usabout this young man!"

The other maids and Anna looked like as if they were pleading to get married instead of asking about what the Blue Musketeer looked like. Literally, they're on their knees and making puppy dog faces at Gail, who was in the middle of fixing her bun.

Gail laughed though, in a way, she seemed to believe that this was a sight to behold. It reminded her on how she acted with the Queen yesterday.

"I think I've said too much." Gail turned away, with a dramatic look on her face. "Now, please…leave me be!"

"We won't leave until you tell us how your night went!" Anna answers as the maids agreed with her (her little _followers_).

Gail let out a hopeless sigh and said, "Fine…"

The other maids cheered, just shortly after Gail made her decision. They just sat down on the floor while as Gail had the chair.

Just before Gail could even sit down in her own chair, she fluffed up her pillows. Then, she sat down and said, "He was…like no other guy that I've ever met before. Normally, when a guy speaks to me, they are more interested in _other things _besides getting to know each other. But _him_…"

The maids plus Anna moved in closer, they knew right away that the juicy little secrets that are about to unfold. Just as Gail opened her mouth to speak, she immediately said, "Uh…you guys are _way too _close. Could you scoot back a little bit? You're breathing on my knees."

Without a response, they did so, but, they still remained to keep their eyes locked on Gail. They weren't kidding when they wanted to hear every single, little detail.

Gail sighed hopelessly and continued, "He was like no other guy that I've met so far. He was totally…_different_, and there was something about him…that made me-,"

Suddenly, the maid with blond, curly hair interrupted her and said, "My God, Gail! You are in _love_!"

"What?" Gail took that as an offense, but then again, her cheeks went red. "No I'm not! Sure he's handsome, I'll give him that…but-,"

Anna interrupted her also, and said, "Sylvia's right Gail! We saw how you moved with the Blue Musketeer last night, and we saw the look on your face. You looked like you were in some sort of a trance."

Gail just stared at the maids and thought, _You can't be serious…_

Sylvia grabbed Gail's hands, it looks as if they were about to recite some prayers from the Bible. "Trust us Gail, even the look in your eyes tell us that you're desperate. We'll help you anyway we can until we find this man."

Gail's eyes started glistening, and then she looked down and said, "But…I'm _not _in love. Besides, I'm not even the type to fall in love with incomplete strangers…"

She yanked her hands free from Sylvia's grasp, and then she walked off without any hesitation. She didn't even bother to look back and say 'Sorry'.

* * *

"I'm _not _in love."

Gail answered followed by a piercing glare. As she walked in the empty streets in Paris, all alone, and she didn't even bother to walk around the puddles that were left by the rain from the night before. In fact, she doesn't mind much about her feet getting wet.

Because, she used to do this a lot with her older sister.

"I'm _not _in love."

She said again, followed by a breathless sigh. She stopped walking for a moment to see two little girls by the curb. In fact, they were both twins, and from Gail's point of view, it seemed like these two get along pretty well.

They were cute little girls, and from the looks of it, they had their hair tied up in pig tails, and it was really curled to perfection. They wore tiny black and white dresses and they started to skip along the way to the other side of the road, while holding each other's hand.

Gail's eyes started glistening. _They look so happy together…reminds me of—_

She broke deep from out of her thoughts and spun around quickly. The sound of footsteps echoed from all around, and it looks like she's going to pass out.

"Hey, if you guys followed me all the way out here just to talk about the man that I danced with…don't bother! In fact, it was a Masquerade Ball, so I was only _pretending to like _him!"

"From what I was told, a Masquerade Ball is a special kind of ball where two complete strangers meet and they fall in love. But then again, this is the story I've been told by my parents."

Gail suddenly looked past her shoulder and looked at that same curb the two girls crossed a few minutes ago. In their place was none other than Bernard, who as in a matter of fact looked 'dashing' then ever with his straight dirt brown hair and his gleaming big brown eyes. The freckles, however, don't seem to stand out as much. But, he still gave Gail the same smile those two nights ago shortly after she purchased the bread.

"Oh, hey, it's you Bernard!" Gail answered, pushing some strands of long red hair from out of view. "I didn't even see you there…but I've got a question to ask of you…it's so early in the morning, shouldn't you be working right now?"

"I came to tell the owner that I decided to quit that job." Bernard shrugged as he said it with honesty. "I _can't _make a decent living just by selling off bread for the next 60 years of my life. I need an extra ingredient in my life too…I need love. And I already found it."

"You met some girl dressed in bed sheets at a New Year's Party. You've only met her for one night and today you decided to quit your job?" Gail said with a serious tone. "Bernard, don't you think that's going a bit too far…just a little bit?"

"Nope." Was all Bernard had said, "I found love, and love is supposed to feel like an adventure. You have to make the biggest sacrifices in your life just to be with this one special someone. And from the look of my Lady's eyes, that means that she feels the same way about me."

An awkward silence fell among the two young teens. Gail, however, would not close her mouth. (She had a good reason to; no girl would want to hear things like that.)

But Bernard didn't see how she felt about that and started to make his way up the curb.

"Bernard!" Gail ran up to him as fast as she can and said, "What on earth is up with you? Don't you have a decent idea on what you've done? You're making a big mistake-,"

Surprisingly, without a doubt, Bernard jerked his arm with a lot of force as Gail fell over, hands first. She looked up, not because she doesn't have any trace of blood on her, but because of the fact her only friend shoved her to the ground…_her only one and only true friend_.

"But…why?" Gail answered, already started coughing. "Why did you do that?"

"I had no choice Gail." Bernard answered with a soft voice. The look on his face tells him that he didn't like what he did to her at all. "You were just getting in the way of facing my dreams. Even as your dear friend, I would not allow you to step in and make choices for me. I'm a grown man; I know exactly what I'm doing."

He started walking down that same path that Gail took, but, going the opposite way. Gail sat upwards, and then she looked down at the palms of her hands. Both of which have a few scratch marks from the rough, gritty stones that have been placed on the sidewalks.

_Bernard…_ She thought to herself, but didn't say anything out loud. She stopped thinking for a moment and closed both her eyes and clenched her hands into fists. _By God, Bernard…there was something about that girl…that you don't even know…I don't know what it is yet, but, something about her aura seems a bit off…_

Suddenly, her eyes burst wide open. The same look from before…she was having a second vision.

This time, it was a bit clearer compared to the first one.

This time, it showed a picture of Lady in Purple, looking seriously happy and there was a huge crowd of people with gray skin worshipping her from all around…like she was the queen amongst all of them…

Or maybe she was…

* * *

"So, did it work? Your plan?" Lady in Purple answers, while viewing all of Paris from just looking out that huge gothic window.

Bernard walks in looking really bummed out; his eyes appeared completely lifeless, not even one sparkle came out of them. He didn't even shut the door behind him; he just stares at the tile floor instead.

"Wow." Says Lady in Purple sarcastically. She claps and says, "What an entrance. This is by far the best I've ever seen."

"**Sorry, my love**." Bernard answers, reverting back into his gargoyle-self. "**Something just came to me, that's all**."

From the corner of Lady in Purple's eye, she sees a single tear streaming down Bernard's left eye. She thought, _What's wrong with him? He's never acted this way since I've met him…something great must've happened._

"Hey." Lady in Purple started walking up towards Bernard as she said that. "Are you going to tell me what's the matter? Or are you just going to stand there and act dead all day?"

Bernard shot her a glare, but then he decided to let go of that expression and said, "**No, my love**."

Lady in Purple places a hand on Bernard's craggy cheek and used her index finger to wipe the tear off his eye.

"Then there's no point in crying for something over so unimportant." She smiles at him; her lips were dressed in lovely shade of lavender. From above the area where they stood, there was a small black chandelier that glistened brightly with decorated crystal studs and low-lit candles.

And then she continued and said, "You love me _don't you_?" She places a hand under Bernard's chin, and then she rubbed it gently and said, "So, stop fussing about that redhead that you shoved earlier."

"**Wait…how did you find out about that?**" Bernard's eyebrows rose just as he said that.  
_  
_"C'mon, this window right here…can view everything in sight." Lady in Purple points at the window she stood by. "And I don't just guess…I know what I see. But still…she's only a redhead. Just let it go, already! A shove like that won't end the entire world."

"**You're right**…" Bernard answers with a cracked voice. "**I should probably just forget about Gail-**,"

"Never _speak_ of that name!" Lady in Purple roared, placing the same hand over his dry mouth. Bernard's eyes widened completely. It's obvious that he hasn't seen his Lady this upset since…who knows when.

"**What's the matter with speaking Gail's name?**" Bernard answered his voice still cracked and shaky. "**Is it that much of a crime to speak her name?**"

"I just don't want to hear her name is all." Lady in Purple throws her hand back and then turns around and grabs her cloak.

"**Why, my love?**" Bernard walks up behind her, and says, "**Shouldn't we talk about your feelings like you did with me earlier?**"

"I'd rather not talk about them; it's by far too personal." Lady in Purple says just as she finished tying the knot on her shadowy starts walking out towards the door and then she looks over her shoulder and sees Bernard walking up to her, slowly.

"**My love, where do you suggest on going at this time of night?**" Bernard answers as if he was begging for money. "**Please, don't go anywhere, what if something happens to you and I'm not around?**"

"I can take care of myself." Lady in Purple answers, not even looking back at him in the eye. She goes back to the table and starts to equip her twin swords.

They are demonic swords, the blades were made out of titanium, and they glistened under the lights of the chandelier. They were dressed in royal blue sheaths, with a hint of dark purple metal attachments on the right side, making it appear like the wings of a bat.

"**Wait a second, where did those twin swords come from?**" Bernard points at her studded belt, which had the twin sheaths attached to them on the left side of her waist. "**I never seen you use those twin swords, when did you purchase them?**"

"I had a blacksmith prepare them for me since day one." Lady in Purple adds after tying the last knot on her belt. "Before I had my army of gargoyles, even this queen herself needs at least to keep weapons in handy. Besides, having steel-plated blades seemed old fashioned…so, why not have titanium-plate blades instead?"

"**My love…**" Bernard answers, looking deep into Lady in Purple's sinful-filled eyes. Surprisingly, for a gargoyle, his eyes glistened brightly under the chandelier's glow. "**You've changed…you weren't the same lady that I used to know.**"

"Maybe I changed, maybe I haven't." Lady in Purple responds sheepishly as she grabs the doorknob. She twists it to the left and cracks it open. "But that doesn't matter. I'll be out for a while, and this time, I will go. _Alone. _That means _you and your buddies _don't follow me, you understand that part correct?"

Bernard just answers by nodding his head. Lady in Purple shots him back a piercing smile and then closes the door behind her; leaving Bernard to keep this little palace in order along with the other gargoyles. (Which won't be introduced at this time.)

* * *

Once again, another day passes on by in Paris, France.

The streetlights have been lit, and once again, everywhere you go, you see people heading home after a hard day's work.

But this time, there's a whole new side to this story.

Just as Gail got inside the carriage, all she could think about was what Bernard did to her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and thought, _To shove me to the ground like that…what was he thinking? I just gave him my honest opinion and he pushes me? Why? What did I say to make him angry like that?_

She opened her eyes and then placed a hand inside her white turtleneck, and pulled out the golden locket.

Gail just stared at it as if it were the most beautiful thing in the entire world. Her eyes shimmered under the moon's glow, and then tears started appearing as she closed her eyes tight.

She held the locket close to her heart, and thought, _Oh, Bernard. Even if you don't believe me, I feel that, deep down inside, that girl is vicious and she's taking over your life. I don't want to lose anyone that's important to me…ever…_One of her tears started streaming down her face after her thought bubble ended.

Then she felt the carriage stopped moving and she reopened her eyes. She wiped the tears clean and noticed the palace was standing right there, awaiting her presence. She stepped out of the carriage and paid the driver the money she owed.

As the driver rode off, Gail was the last person standing by the gates; however, at least they did her a favor by leaving it open for her.

Of course, she got in, but, she wasn't happy about that. The thoughts of Bernard kept circling around her main trail of thought.

And just before she could realize it, she stumbled across a field of roses. Gail looks up right away, to see the moon welcoming her back with its magnificent glow. Down below, was the beautiful rose field, and without a response, she walks down that steep granite staircase with an emotionless expression.

"…"

_I don't know but… _Gail thought to herself, breaking this somewhat long period of silence. _It feels as if there's someone waiting for me…could it be…._Her eyes widened, but, only for a split second. She started walking into this huge field of roses, not even bothering to turn back around.

Just for a split second, Gail stops walking and then turns around. The look on her face tells here that she sworn that she heard somebody speak. She looks past her shoulder as she becomes steadily pale.

She sees a young boy about possibly eighteen-nineteen years old looking back at her. His eyes were big, and bright shade of clear blue. He has a medium weight layer of bangs, (but Gail's was a heavy layer) and his hair reached about shoulder-length. He wears a blue overcoat, a dark blue necktie, a gray vest, white puffy shirt, black pants, and black boots. Despite his innocent appearance, he appears to be holding a pistol in his hand. (It's Robin!)

"_You…_" he began, with his teeth clenched together. "Who are you…what are you?"

However, since Gail's mind focused on Bernard, she didn't bother to ask for his name.

Instead, she went straight to the point, "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything wrong."

Like an undead person (or gargoyle), she walked towards Robin very slowly. He stood up as quickly as he can and panicked a little bit. No matter how many steps he took, she kept walking closer to him as if she was placed under his hypnotic spell.

Without a doubt, he brought out his pistol, and then he screams, "You…s-stay away from me! Do you hear me? I don't even know _why _you're here, but stay away…_STAY AWAY_!"

Gail let out a small giggle and says, "Are you going to shoot me?" She cocked an eyebrow at him. "I just wanted to ask why you're so upset…I could probably help you with your proble-,"

Suddenly, Gail's vision became incredibly hazy, as she fell, the huge bun of hair became loose, and she fell over.

Robin lowered his pistol and then his eyes became wider; as he watched this 'saint' fell, and drowned in her own pool of blood.

_Oh, my God… _Robin's eyes widened straight-away, after when he realized who it was.

_I didn't just shoot a maid…I shot...Miss Lovely Rose…_


	9. Mother

_********__Stage 9: Mother_

_You know, I like going out on quiet walks, but, if there's not one person in sight…it feels like a total ghost town._

Thought Lady in Purple, as she just stands by the curb with nothing but twin swords equipped. She let's out a deep sigh, _There's nothing to do in this blasted city but watch what locals do for a living and just breathe, I'm dying for some action right now._

Just before she could even realize it, huge gusts started to occur and it blew the hoodie right off her head and uncovered her face.

"Aw, _damn _this weather!" Lady in Purple says, clenching her teeth together, placing the hood over her head to shroud her face. "I asked for some action, not a swift breeze!"

"This weather is not so bad, when you look at it that way…Madam."

From under Lady in Purple's hood, her sinful eyes became smaller…but more surprised than usual. Without a word, she placed a hand on the handle of one of her twin swords and says, "Say that again, or I'll have to cut your fingers off one-by-one."

In the shadows of this dark city stood a man, but when he stood up, he seemed pretty tall…a good 5 foot 9 perhaps. By the snap of his fingers, the streetlights flickered brightly all around.

Even though nobody could tell what Lady in Purple's expression was, she seemed a bit baffled and surprised as she took a step back. Her hand still rested on the handle and waited for the right moment to draw out the sword, and if this guy isn't bearing arms, her second thoughts were about killing him and running away, home free.

_This man…._Lady in Purple was having her moment once again. _This man, with beautiful long brown hair and dressed in green…what the fuck does he want with me?_

However, from underneath that big hoodie, she looked up with those sinful, cold blue eyes and saw that this guy doesn't even look afraid of her. In fact, a smile grew on his face, and he rose up his hands saying, "Look Madam, is it really _that_ necessary to walk alone on the streets at night? I mean, there could be anyone out on the streets that may come and take you away, or worse, probably slaughter you…that is…if you're beautiful enough."

"How _dare _you say that!" Lady in Purple answers with a low voice, "For _your _information, Mr. Smooth-Talking-Creep-that-I-Met-on-the-Streets, even beautiful women can be the most dangerous! And who says that _I _am _not _beautiful enough?"

"Hmmm. Feisty, I like you." The man answers back to Lady in Purple, as he draws out his sword. "How about we say that…we play a little game? Me and you, one-on-one."

"I would love to take up on your silly little challenge…but I should probably tell you this before we get started." Lady in Purple said with a grin that even that man didn't see, "I don't _play _to win, I _play _to get even."

"Very well Madam." The man answers with a little saluting sign that took a couple of seconds. "En garde!"

They drew out their swords at the same moment and they swiped them, hard, and let the blades meet each other, forming an 'X'.

"I'll be the gentleman here and let you have a go." The man smiles at her…who knows what kind of stunt would he pull?

Lady in Purple answers with a simple nod, and then she strikes at him, with one sword out, and as she thrusts her sword, the man grabs the blade with one hand and whispers into her ear, "Wrong move Madam."

She looses grip on the sword and the force was very strong and she falls over, hands first. Her sword fell out of her hands and slid across the sidewalk. Not only that, but, her hoodie fell off her head.

Just before she realizes it, the man came at her and was about to plunge a knife towards Lady in Purple's heart, she felt it coming towards her and a shine of bright light came towards them. She got her second sword out, just in time.

"That was a good move…on your part. Way better than the first…" The man answers, breaking some sweat.

Lady in Purple looked up at him, with one eye closed (since the blade was very close to her eye), and says, "You're not so bad of a fencer yourself."

Just before the man could even realize it, she jerked her sword hard enough as he went back a couple of steps. Finally, his eyes began to get smaller, as she quickly equipped her other sword and now has one in each hand. She looks at her first sword and flips it upward. She gazes at the blade and sees some blood fill a tiny portion of her sword.

Her eyes widened, _But, I don't remember seeing any blood just yet…so why is there-,_

She broke free from out of her thoughts and saw that there is a huge gash of blood dripping down the man's left hand, or at least…the palm was oozing blood.

_That pain looks so deep. _Thought Lady in Purple, _So…why isn't he twitching a little bit? No matter…I will just go and kill him already._

Both of them started to run, and then they fenced, so many moves have been used…but every time they thrust, the blades always meet and go apart. The match was going nowhere, and it was really late at night, and it was no use…they were evenly matched.

Just then, Lady in Purple lowered one of her twin swords, and then the man gave her a strange look that meant 'It's over already? But, I'm having fun with this.'"What's the matter Madam?" The man answers, bringing back the same smile to his face once again. "Are you tired already? If you are, I will give you a quick massage…how does that sound?"

"I'm still breathing you know…" Lady in Purple answers softly; her heavy layer of bangs covered her entire face just as she looked down at her feet.

The man didn't listen to what she has to say but he started walking up towards her like she asked him for help.

"Hey…look, you seem pretty tired so why don't you-,"

"Don't. Touch. Me." Says Lady in Purple as she takes a swipe at him.

She didn't see where she hit him, since her vision was still a bit off, but when she came to; she saw that she didn't lay even one scratch on this man's body.

"But…how can this be?" Lady in Purple said softly, dropping her twin swords. "This move can kill almost anyone even by the lightest touch…but you…you are too skilled…"

But the man pulled her close to his chest; he looked down at Lady in Purple and stroked her short, purple hair and whispers into her ear, "I'm just the perfect match for you Madam…"

Lady in Purple got up on her toes (or tippy toes), and says to him softly, "If you weren't so incredibly handsome…I would've killed you."

"The name's Durand." He says to Lady in Purple. "And by the way…I love it how you are both very beautiful and incredibly a dangerous woman. May I ask your name before we go separate ways?"

"I don't really go with my real name…but…" Lady in Purple started to say, "I will make myself a new one once after you kiss me."

"Ooh, you are a desperate young woman." Durand answers with a calm voice. "I'd be delighted to kiss your cold lips and make them glow again."

Durand pressed his lips against Lady in Purple's, and then, a spark came between them and before Lady in Purple realized it, she was lifted off the ground.

After their lips parted, Lady in Purple says, "You may call me Sonny. Because, I am the shadow that hides in the sun's rays…"

"Oh, my dear Sonny…" Durand began, kissing her hand, "What a wonderful name for a dangerous woman like you…it makes you sound even more beautiful."

"Don't get used to it…" Sonny answers followed by a smile, "You may have stolen my heart away from me, but! I will come and steal it back from you once we meet again."

And just like that, like all the other times that have taken place, she disappears into the depths of the shadows, without leaving behind a single trace.

A breeze suddenly began to pick up again, brushing up against Durand's neck, as some of his dark brown hair slowly sways in the cool, crisp air.

Like always, he slips his hand inside his overcoat and takes out a pretty little purple flower, a look of concentration taking over his face.

"Someday…but not now." Was the last thing he said before turning his way back home.

* * *

_Oh my God…_Robin froze; looking at Gail's drowned body, the pistol in his hand still resting on the trigger.

A chill slowly went up his spine...the air around him becoming still and ominous.

Through those long bangs that tickled his nose, his eyes were slowly widening, because he heard a shriek coming from behind him.

A shriek coming from one of the ladies-in-waiting.

"Oh my God…Gail!"

It was none other than Sylvia; she ran up towards Gail…whose body is soaked from her own bloodbath.

Assuming that Gail is dead, furiously, she turns around to look at Robin straight in the eye and saying, "Robin, you…_bastard!_ How could you? Why would you go and shoot a girl that has _nothing _to do with you? I…I swear that…when Queen Marie hears about this…I…"

She cut off mid-sentence and broke down into deep sobs. She gets down to her knees and kept saying 'Gail…' over and over again.

But Robin stared at Sylvia coldly, and then says, "What will you do? Will you execute me or what?"

Suddenly, Sylvia got back up…slowly, and then she looked back at him with a sharp glare. She pressed her lips together and said, "You…_ungrateful,_ psychopath! I thought that after three years you would have grown up some more but no! You're even _more immature_ than when you were fifteen!"

Robin stared her down and didn't say another word. He knew well enough that talking back won't get him anywhere, but slowly, a grin was made upon his face and after a few minutes, he finally said, "So, that's what you think of me…"

Sylvia wiped the tear that was streaming down her face and said, "What nonsense are you spurting out now?"

Robin didn't look at her straight in the eye; instead, he pointed the pistol straight at her. Sylvia gasped and took a couple of steps back, and she froze in place, fear was rewritten all over her face…her pale face.

"W-what is shooting me going to prove?" Sylvia panicked, "If…if you shoot me, they're going to execute you without any questions! Do you really want that Robin? Do you?"

Robin continued to stare her down, with those cold blue eyes. Long bangs covered one of them, and then he said with a calm voice, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just don't want _anyone _to know about this. That is all that I ask, and if you don't help me out, you _will _get hurt."

Sylvia just stood there and thought, _What the hell? He expects me to help him plan out his escape on murder and feel good about it? No…I can't…_

"I'm waiting for an answer." Robin answered, his finger carefully pulling the trigger…slowly. Sylvia started panicking and said, "I'm not going to do it! Even if we are friends since we were kids, I won't forgive you for what you've done to Gail!"

"Well then…" Robin started to pull on the trigger some more, "So, you're basically going to betray an old childhood friend of yours for someone you've met for a day and a half. Let me end your misery and just call it a night and be on my way."

Just seconds before he slowly started to let go of the trigger, he immediately missed the shot after when he heard another shriek coming from behind him.

"Robin, stop this right now!"

Robin suddenly woke up to reality and looked back at Anna, assisting her was none other than Queen Marie…and then a huge crowd of noblemen and ladies-in-waiting arrived at the scene.

As for Robin…he didn't know what to think anymore. He was surrounded by people that he knew as a child, but now, those same people are returning dirty looks right back at his direction.

Even if they were his 'family' he could care less about the feelings they show towards him…but, if Queen Marie shows that very same face back at him…that's a different story to tell.

As Robin dared to look into Queen Marie's deep blue eyes, which also decided to stare him down the same way he did earlier, she broke the silence by saying, "Robin…why? Why would you go through certain lengths to do such things?"

Robin gulped; he needed to think of a good reason…and fast. He pressed his lips together and said, "Queen Marie…I can explain-,"

"There's no need for you to explain what you've done to me." Queen Marie interrupted; she turned towards the two noblemen and told them to take Gail's body back to her room immediately.

Quietly, the crowd dissolved and went back to their corridors, even Anna and Sylvia went back went them. The two of them turned around and shot piercing glares at Robin. Mostly Anna was doing all of the glaring, but Sylvia, looked at Robin with worry instead.

Robin, without saying a word, was just about to put his pistol back inside his pocket, but then, Queen Marie snatched it from his hands and then he stared at her in disbelief.

"W-what?" Was all that Robin could say at this point.

Queen Marie looked at him with disdain and said, "Robin, you _do _remember clearly during your times in schooling that if you part of the palace's order and commit crimes within the palace ground, you get your weapon taken away and serve probation."

"But…what if there are gargoyles facing me late at night…or right now? What should I use to fight them then? I _must _have that pistol back…I'm begging you my Queen, please give it back to me!"

"You may just have to work out your intellectuality a bit and find a way to surpass them." The Queen answered with a very calm voice. "Even you can win battles just by not shedding at least one drop of blood, you know that."

Robin stared at the Queen as if she spoke foreign back at him. He pushed the long bangs out of his eyes and then looked away.

"I might have to tell the other three musketeers to put you off until you serve your probation." Queen Marie said it softly, to get back his attention.

"What?" Robin's jaw dropped, "But…why? You already took my pistol away, and now you're telling me that you'll _ban _me from the four musketeers? I liked it _a lot_ better when you just lectured me with that motherly-tone of yours on how to fight like a professional!"

"My decision is final Robin." Queen Marie answered, lowering her voice and giving him the glare. "You are _not _going to serve anymore services with the Four Musketeers until you serve your probation completely."

Suddenly, Robin stormed up in front of the Queen. The tears started streaming down his cheeks, and then he screamed, "You…are _not _my _real_ mother! You have _no right _to take everything that I love away from me just like this! Y-you…I _hate _you!"

_________________________

* * *

_

A door suddenly opened into a dimmed room.

The low-lit candles flickered brightly like little gemstones under the glass of the hanging chandelier.

Bernard, still in his gargoyle transformation, had his body spread out on the regal couch.

Obviously he stayed up for most of the night waiting for Sonny (Lady in Purple) to come back home.

And then…

The door opens, and Bernard's eyes slowly woke up to the low, creaky noise in the background. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the high arched ceiling, plus the chandelier.

The second thing he saw when he sat up on the couch was Sonny's figure standing there in the dark…looking completely lifeless but the only thing that remains alive were her beautiful slanted blue eyes.

"**My Lady**..." Bernard let out a very loud yawn, it echoed from every corner of this dimmed room. "**Where did you go? I was waiting for you for hours but you never came**…"

"I'm…sorry for worrying you…" She answers in a soft voice, and starts walking towards the two giant purple doors...slowly.

"**Wait**…" Bernard sprung off the couch and trailed up behind Sonny as if he was a lost puppy. "**Aren't you going to explain to me what happened?**"

"It's none of your concern…" Sonny placed at hand on the left door and looked back at Bernard with a piercing stare. "I'm going to bed…no questions will be asked after hours. I'm beat-down tired of this…tired of everything…"

She closed the door behind her and left Bernard standing around…all by himself. He shrugged his shoulders and turns around back towards the couch; lied down again in the same, stretched-out position, and closed his eyes.

A door suddenly opened into a dimmed room.

The low-lit candles flickered brightly like little gemstones under the glass of the hanging chandelier.

Bernard, still in his gargoyle transformation, had his body spread out on the regal couch.

Obviously he stayed up for most of the night waiting for Sonny (Lady in Purple) to come back home.

And then…

The door opens, and Bernard's eyes slowly woke up to the low, creaky noise in the background. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the high arched ceiling, plus the chandelier.

The second thing he saw when he sat up on the couch was Sonny's figure standing there in the dark…looking completely lifeless but the only thing that remains alive were her beautiful slanted blue eyes.

"**My Lady**…" Bernard let out a very loud yawn, it echoed from every corner of this dimmed room. "******Where did you go? I was waiting for you for hours but you never came**…"

"I'm…sorry for worrying you…" She answers in a soft voice, and starts walking towards the two giant purple doors...slowly.

"**Wait**…" Bernard sprung off the couch and trailed up behind Sonny as if he was a lost puppy. "**Aren't you going to explain to me what happened?**"

"It's none of your concern…" Sonny placed at hand on the left door and looked back at Bernard with a piercing stare. "I'm going to bed…no questions will be asked after hours. I'm beat-down tired of this…tired of everything…"

She closed the door behind her and left Bernard standing around…all by himself. He shrugged his shoulders and turns around back towards the couch; lied down again in the same, stretched-out position, and closed his eyes.


	10. The Vexed and the Worshipped

__

__

******_Stage 10: The Vexed and the Worshipped_**

It has been a long evening, according to most people who lived inside the palace walls.

Not only has Robin been the only person stressing out the most, but everyone else has their own personal things to worry about as well. Such as, we have the noblemen standing around on guard duty every night, hoping to earn at least one to two breaks in between duties and we have the maids thinking about updating their schedules for the next day, next week, or even the next month for future errands.

Almost everyone is busy, even in the dead of night; when the outside world has shut down to go to sleep. The inside world never sleeps, there is always _one person _always awake, _always _doing something to keep them busy…

It all started with a sudden creak at the gates. A shadow casted on the soft, wet grass and it slowly faded when it finally reached palace walls. Could it be…some lonely bystander in this midst of the cold evening?

No…it wasn't just some typical bystander, it was just some kid…a young teen, probably somewhere around fourteen years old. And he carried a small piece of paper in between his middle and ring fingers, and from the current look on his face, he seemed pretty nervous about what is he doing.

_Why is it always me…_He looked down out of pity, _Can somebody else take my place and just get it out of the way?_

He trembled as he got closer to the main doors, every step he took he felt his entire body firing up inside. He was feeling pale already; the thought of seeing those two white marble doors, untouched by frost, towering above him was a breathtaking sight to behold.

The thought of it made his stomach churn in awe, but he shrugged and told himself, _As long as I don't make one screwed up mistake, I should be fine._

He sighed again, and then he said, "Ah, what have I got to worry about? I mean, it's not like I'm plotting a secret attack against the king and queen! I mean, they won't kill me over a small piece of paper! I've been told that they're really nice rulers!"

Suddenly, he realized that he was still talking a little loudly to himself and then he clammed up without saying another word.

His fingers trembled after they touched the frost after he placed his palms on the white marble, and then gave it a slight push, a very quiet one, and made his way in. He repeated the process again by closing the door behind him.

He looked around; this room was bigger than he expected it to be.

Even though that the room was silent, and dark, there was a lot of things to behold and stare with awe. For example, the clean carpet floors dressed in fine flooring and beautiful floral patterns sewn into them. Bay windows hung high from the left side, and the moon's cascading glow entered the corridors with a silent greeting, and the beautiful satin curtains stand there, unmoving. To top it all of, a beautiful clear crystal chandelier glistened in the midst of the gigantic hallways; it sparkled beautifully and brightly inside the moon's enchanted glow.

The young teen was fascinated by the sight of this beautiful part of the palace. He didn't want to leave this untouched beauty, but he also didn't want to be a part of Death Road either. So he kept moving forward, deep inside the castle.

* * *

_What's this soft melody…that I hear?_

…

_It sounds very soothing…yet sad…_

Gail's eyes immediately fluttered open; there was never a day where she would fall asleep through a beautiful song. She'd much rather listen to it all first before falling asleep…she knows good music, and she knows how good music can be by just listening to the emotion and lyrics of it.

She sat upright, looking around to see where the music was coming from, and when she came to, she noticed that she wasn't resting in a bed…but in a field. And not just a typical field, it was a massive field of roses.

Pink, Red, White, there were so many bright colors of roses as far as the eye could see, or maybe imagine. To Gail, this felt more like a dream come true, since this feels like her ideal place to write music all day long. She couldn't choose another perfect, quiet place to write beautiful lyrics other than a field of beautiful roses.

She suddenly got up, her legs all shaky for having them stay in one position as she slept, but after a few seconds, they felt fine again. Barefoot, she started to walk around the fields and follow the sound of the beautiful music playing around the area.

_It feels like I'm in some sort of trance…_ Gail thought as she moved on, _This melody…this very, sad rhythm…really touches my heart deeply…I love it…_

And then she suddenly stopped.

Right in front of her eyes she noticed two girls, happily playing their enchanted glass flutes in sync, as one played high notes and the other played low.

In Gail's eyes, she assumed that they were both sisters, for they were wearing the same type of clothes, typical frilly dresses both in shades of red and purple. The only thing she spotted, however, was that these girls appear to look very different.

The older one was very pretty; she appeared to be in her teens, and she had silky, purple shoulder-lengthed hair, which was spiked a bit in the very tips of her hair, her forehead was evened out with medium weight bangs, which only reached to where her eyes have met. Her eyes were a tad-bit smaller than the younger one's eyes, but they were still pretty big either way.

The younger one has long, silky-straight red hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail, but fanned out as if it were a cape. She too had medium weight bangs that reached to where her eyes met, and her eyes were a bit bigger than her older sister's; the curious, child-like eyes.

From afar, that's what it appeared to look like from Gail's end. Gail didn't want to disturb their time of brilliance, so she slowly walked up closer and peeked out from in between the roses to get a better look of them.

As she got closer, two shadowy figures came from behind them, and then took a hold of the older sister. They forced her to stand and grasped both her wrists up high above her head.

"Wha-what the hell is this? Let me go!" The older sister yelled.

But the guards refused to do so.

"Sorry Madam, but, you're coming with us." One guard that held her wrists high said in a monotonous tone.

The second guard takes over and says, "You must come and meet with the king at once, he wants to speak with you about the sudden theft charges of the missing glass flutes that you kindly slipped through his fingers."

"But—," The younger sister started to say with a shaky voice, "she hasn't really done anything wrong! She bought these beautiful flutes, I saw her do it! That king of ours is just some stupid jerk that is convinced that he owns everything in the world!"

"You _shut _that whiney little mouth of yours before I break your bottom jaw off! Stupid bitch, how _dare _you defy our powerful ruler's financial ways!" Says the second guard with a really aggressive tone.

The younger one didn't know what else to say for her older sister's defense, she just stood there, pressed her lips together and didn't say anymore.

The older sister glared at the second guard and said, "Hey buddy, you just _badmouthed _my little sister, you are _going _to take back what you said otherwise I won't hesitate to use my boots for self defense. Who freaking cares about what the king is going to do with me? What is he going to do, _scare_ me into playing full price? Ha. You think its all part of the business plan, I find this whole 'financial thing' to be total bullshit."

The guards looked at the older sister with really furious expressions, but she remained calm; as for the younger sister, she didn't look very keen on her choice of words either. That only increased the tension between the four of them.

Meanwhile, as for Gail, she was pale in the face. Her eyes were drowned with fear for sure…but she also couldn't stop watching this horrible scene. The look on her face tells her…that she must've seen this all before…

"Why aren't you listening to me?" The older sister roared, "I said get your fucking hands off me before I—,"

Suddenly, the second guard gave the older sister a very hard slap in the face. Her left cheek slowly reddened with growing pain, and then she stopped talking. The younger sister couldn't bear this and tears came to her eyes, as for Gail, as she still continued to watch this, gasped.

"That's _enough _badmouthing for you!" The second guard yelled in her face, "We're taking you to the king either you like it or not!"

The older sister gave them a piercing glare, and then she said, "…You're not getting away with this…"

The two guards pretended to not hear her words and then they dragged her into the carriage with handcuffs around her wrists, and then the younger sister screamed, "SONNY!"

Gail's eyes suddenly widened with surprise, _No way…_

And then Gail started looking at the younger version of herself and said, "What are you doing Gail? Go chase after that carriage! Hurry!"

Young Gail didn't hear a word Gail had said. There was hot tears pouring down the young one's eyes, and then she feel to her knees and cried.

Gail couldn't take this anymore, so she ran after the carriage instead, and just like what Young Gail did, she screamed, "SONNY!"

She let out her entire arm and tried to open the door, but before she got even closer, the carriage vanished, the horses, the two guards, Sonny, everything…even Young Gail and the rose fields disappeared.

And then Gail finally understood what's been going on…it was a flashback of one of her bad memories…the day when she got separated from her sister…Sonny D'Costa.

* * *

As Gail woke up from this nightmare, she found herself in her bed once again. Heavily breathing, it seems like things were same as before well…almost everything.

She looked at her hands, _These hands…what were they made to do? To play beautiful music or to save people's lives?_

She closed her eyes for a moment and gave it some thought, and then, something came to her head.

_Suddenly, the second guard gave the older sister a very hard slap in the face. Her left cheek slowly reddened with growing pain, and then she stopped talking. The younger sister couldn't bear this and tears came to her eyes, as for Gail, as she still continued to watch this, gasped._

_"That's enough badmouthing for you!" The second guard yelled in her face, "We're taking you to the king either you like it or not!"_

_The older sister gave them a piercing glare, and then she said, "…You're not getting away with this…"_

Gail re-opened her eyes again, and then she told herself, "That's right. They're _not _getting away with this. I know what I must do now…I will use these hands to avenge and kill…not only for my survival but also for my sister's sake too…"

Suddenly, Gail's eyes turned from blue to red, her eyes glowed like as if fire spewed from them.

"This is for you…" Gail said softly to herself, "…Sonny!"

* * *

"Whew…I'm so tired, I feel like I need a moment to crash in…"

One of the guards says as he leans his head against the handle of his spike bayonet, almost on the edge of falling over.

The other three guards watch him as if he had lost his mind. The leader of the four guards, the big man, jerked him by the necktie and said, "Look. I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible, we have the rest of the night until we receive our weekend off of duty. So if you don't fall asleep, we don't have to work for another five-day shift so…_get your lazy ass up before I use this bayonet to screw your eyeballs out of their sockets!_"

The sleepy guard yelped, and then he took him and his bayonet back to his corner, and kept watching for strange intruders with the rest of his unit. His legs trembled at the fact of not getting another five days of sleep unless if he stays up for one more night. To him, almost a week of staying up was good enough, another five days without sleep is just pure torture.

And suddenly, they heard a small, echoing thump from behind them…could it be…an intruder?

"Let's go men! This is the night we've been waiting for!" The big man says, as him and his unit ran off towards the direction of the thumping.

From the other end, the young teen from earlier peeked out from the depths of the corridor, and started sneaking his way into the palace gardens.

"I think this is the right direction…" he said to himself softly, pulling out a map from the back pocket of his coat, "…I hope."

He held the map close to the flickering torch that lit up the dark corridors, and examined it carefully. A smile came to his face; he was very close to reaching his destination…the corridor where the maids' bedrooms are located.

He looked past the gardens to see a door just recently opened. _Well, this is going to be easy than I thought it would be…_

He crept his way through the garden, making sure that the guards don't find him; he went through the far ends of the small garden and managed to make it to another section of the palace.

He closed the opened door behind him, and it led him to an even brighter corridor.

_YES! _The young teen thought to himself as he sank to the floor with his legs spread out; a few seconds after he did that, he let out a loud sigh that echoed a bit through the deep corridor. He closed his mouth instantly, hoping that nobody heard him.

He stood up quickly; in case if anyone came, then he might start running…you may never know.

Suddenly, he heard a huge boom that echoed through this deep corridor, and realized that it was a body thumping the floor. He ran towards the direction of the noise and find out where it's coming from.

The noise became louder, and suddenly, he heard more than one sound of bodies thumping around everywhere…to the young teen, it sounded like…bodies being thrown everywhere…

And then…

He came across an open door, as he saw light pouring inside the room anyways. From this point of view, it seemed that everything was very calm and still…but was it?

No…as he went in, he stepped in some dark fluid, he kneeled down a bit to touch the liquid. As he went ahead and dipped his fingers in…he smelled something raw…and rusty.

It came from the fluid he touched and then he understood what it was…blood.

The young teen stared at his hand in horror, and suddenly, he heard a scream from across the room. He turned around in shock, his heart rate going up several beats.

In this somewhat lit-up room, the young teen noticed a body was floating in mid air; he couldn't even tell if there was nothing touching it or maybe there was, but then the body was magically thrown (or shoved) towards the wall as blood gushed out of it and it sank into the floor just like a balloon would just pop and deflate onto the floor.

And then the young teen screamed and then tried to help the person out. He grabbed the low-lit candle on the desk and then tried to examine the wounds.

The young teen stared at the person in horror, for his neck has been torn open and the flesh and blood was seeping through fast, and you could barely see the irises in his eyes anymore, only the whites were visible, it was a sign that there was death written all over him. And not only that…it was the big man that died.

As for the young teen, his only priority is to escape and run away, far, _far_ away from his place. He considered going to Russia, but it would take half of a week to get there, and how could he possibly go if he didn't have enough money in his pocket?

He started to run for it, but as he could, a voice called from the other side of the room.

"You there, stop."

The young teen froze in his tracks, fear is what is on his mind, he thought about the big man's disfigured condition, _Oh shit, I'm gonna die!_

The person that called him on the other side of the room walked over to where he stood in an ominous sort of way. The teen didn't bother to turn around; he felt a pair of cold eyes staring at him thinking about the perfect way for him to die on the spot, without people even knowing about it.

The thought of that made the teen's skin crawl, but he also had a curious feeling on who called him. The voice he heard sounded pretty soft and gentle, and very familiar…

He turned around, with a candle in hand; he thrusts his arm out as the fire got close to the mysterious person's face, as that person fell on the floor with a loud thud.

The young teen himself looked very confused and he turned the switch to the left and then the candlelight became stronger, he held it close again and recognized who it was.

A frilly pink dress, a lacy choker, barefeet, silky-straight red hair with heavy bangs…it was Gail.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to post up a chapter! I was on vacation so long I didn't have any ideas flowing in my head! But now that I've returned, I've got some more work to do, so see you again until chapter eleven! :D**

**P.S. I hoped you enjoyed this really long, horrific chapter, you all deserve it for being so patient!**

**- Twilight Anarein**


	11. A Sleeping Beauty in the Rose Garden

**_Stage 11: A Sleeping Beauty in the Rose Garden_**

"You there, stop."

The young teen froze in his tracks, fear is what is on his mind, he thought about the big man's disfigured condition, _Oh shit, I'm gonna die!_

The person that called him on the other side of the room walked over to where he stood in an ominous sort of way. The teen didn't bother to turn around; he felt a pair of cold eyes staring at him thinking about the perfect way for him to die on the spot, without people even knowing about it.

The thought of that made the teen's skin crawl, but he also had a curious feeling on who called him. The voice he heard sounded pretty soft and gentle, and very familiar…

He turned around, with a candle in hand; he thrusts his arm out as the fire got close to the mysterious person's face, as that person fell on the floor with a loud thud.

The young teen himself looked very confused and he turned the switch to the left and then the candlelight became stronger, he held it close again and recognized who it was.

A frilly pink dress, a lacy choker, barefeet, silky-straight red hair with heavy bangs…it was Gail.

* * *

"AHHHHH!"

There was a loud booming echo, in those deep corridors.

The torches hung up against the walls flickered brightly by the second, but it was still a little too dark to see anything. It was dark enough in here to run into something and fall over.

But in the meantime…

Robin looked up at the bodyguards, as he had some blood trickling down his bottom lip. There was some blood coming down his forehead, and he had some deep-lash type cuts on his bare back. He was literally lying against the cold ground; the rope that tied him up kept him from trying to escape.

Robin did not say another word nor did he scream; he kept his distance and mouth shut so they don't partake in anymore damage. He was already hurt…physically and mentally.

It wasn't until Queen Marie walked in, giving sharp glances to everyone in the room but she couldn't even look at Robin directly even though he was looking down and his long tan color hair covered his face.

"You must stop this brutal beating at once. I understand that he's committed a horrible crime, but I think you all have done enough in this. Away with all of you!" She says with a stern look on her face.

The guards did as they were told to do so. They quietly took their hatchets, lancers, and various types of pointy objects with them as the last guard to leave closed the door behind them.

Queen Marie took a few steps forward towards Robin, who appears to be really cold, tired, worn out, beaten shirtless body…just the sight of him stings a lot in the poor Queen's old heart.

Without a word, she tried to help him out by untangling the rope around his wrists, and as the rope fell to the floor, he did not move a muscle.

"My sweet Robin…" She said softly, pushing his long bangs away from his view so she could see the young man's pretty face.

Robin didn't bother to look up at Queen Marie's gaze…he just stayed stiff…as a tear formed and trickled down his cheek and hit the cold ground.

"I understand that you want nothing of me…and I really do understand that you really hate me…" Says Queen Marie, "…but I would _never _hate you for the things that you do…besides…even if I am _not _the mother that you always wanted to have for so long…I feel as if…watching you and Prince Auguste growing up was the best thing that I could've asked for…you will always continue to grow up but you will always be a child…my very own child…you play a big part in the royal family now…Robin…"

Robin opened his eyes, as more tears already made their way out quicker then he realized.

"If you really loved me…" Robin began, with a shaky voice, "Then why…why did you agree to the guards having me beat up was a good idea?"

"I didn't agree to anything like that…" Queen Marie said softly, "I was only in my headquarters when I was told by one of the maids that you were getting beaten up mercilessly, that's why I came down to see for myself. I wanted to stop the madness…besides random violence never solves anything. It makes the situation even worse."

Robin pressed his lips together, and then he twitched. The taste of blood already reached his tongue, and the taste was really strong…and rusty.

Queen Marie placed a hand on his cheek and used her thumb to wipe away a stray tear that was let loose, "There, there Robin. Don't cry anymore. I understand that shooting Miss D'Costa was a very horrible thing to do, but…you know, things like this will always be judged…you know very well that this can happen at anytime. But I know that…deep down inside, your heart is not black…it is pure…and I just know that it is by your tears…"

Robin threw his arms around the Queen and cried into her shoulder, she didn't mind the dirt and the blood messing up her robes quite a bit. Actually…not at all. To her, it felt like Robin was the son she never had…

* * *

"D...D...D'Costa?"

Gail suddenly looked up at the young teen, with a really emotionless sharp glance. Through her long bangs you don't see what was once cheery blue eyes of a happy teenage girl…they looked cold…and they were red.

"What's a girl like you doing in a place like this? You aren't part of the royal staff…you shouldn't even be here…you are just a lady-in-waiting!" The young teen shouted in fear.

As just as we would've expected to happen, she magically shoved him and pinned him against the wall so he wouldn't even move. The young teen stared at Gail with such disbelief, his grayish-blue eyes look like at any sudden moment fall out of there sockets since they were really _wide _open.

"You…just stay quiet. You don't even know a thing or two about what happens inside these walls." Gail said with a deep, outraged tone.

"Don't make me laugh D'Costa, you only stayed for less than a week!" Says the young teenage boy with a smirk. "You don't even know as much as a _quarter _of all the stuff compared to everyone else that lived here longer than you. I may not be playing a role in the royal family, but you know I doubt that you could get as very far as the Queen's first class posse anyhow."

Gail pressed her lips together and took a deep breath; she didn't want her anger to get the best out of her.

Instead…she considered another method.

Standing a few feet away, she raised her arm and balled her hand into a fist, and then as she opened her mouth to speak…it wasn't the same typical language that they usually speak at the moment…

She closed her eyes as she said the following words:

"_Alis grave nil…alis volat propris. __Dum vita est, spes est. Credo quia absurdum est…luctor et emergo. __Luceat lux vestra, veritas lux mea. Temet nosce… sic itur ad astra…verba volant, scripta manent._"*

Gail suddenly reopened her eyes and then looked at the young teen and said, "_Sanctus Espiritus, veni…vidi…vici!_"**

And then…there was a sudden crash and all that was left was the broken windows and the crows flapping their wings and taking off into the night sky…

And then the young teen and Gail disappeared…can you believe this?

* * *

As Robin and Queen Marie re-entered the main hallways the rest of the royal staff came outside of their bedrooms and stood by their doors wondering what's going on.

When they see Robin walking alongside Queen Marie, he appeared to feel a little uncomfortable being in contact with everyone again. The staff gave him nothing more than cold shoulders and smirks and backtalk. Robin shifted his eyes side to side and then he looked down ignoring the angry eyes.

Queen Marie took Robin to a room at the end of the hallway; it seems to not have been used for a while from the looks of it. There was dust collecting at the edges of the doorway, but it didn't really seem to bother them at the moment.

In the meantime, Queen Marie grabbed a golden chain necklace off of her neck and then hanging on her necklace was a set of keys. She pulled the set of keys off the chain that it was once hanging on and then she placed in the correct key and unlocked the doors and it creaked right open by itself.

Robin felt his heart skip a beat, he didn't have the faintest idea on what to expect. _What could possibly be in this room?_

Queen Marie looked at him with a serious look and said softly, "You may now go inside and see for yourself. I shall be with you shortly."

She closed the door in front of him, Robin stood all alone in this barely lit, dark dome-like room. No light anywhere but the moon's rays pouring through the high bay windows.

Robin's stomach churned, _Why did Queen Marie bring me here…I can't see anything but the windows from behind me…_

Out of absolutely nowhere, something behind Robin flickered and Robin gasped and turned his head past his shoulder swiftly. And then he saw that the candles on the floor have been lit.

His eyes widened with fear, _What kind of sorcery is this? This must not be an ordinary room! I need to get out of here as soon as I can!_

He ran towards the big doors, and places his hands on both doorknobs and tries his best to break them open. Nothing happened. He grabbed the thin-bladed knife that he keeps handy and secure in his weapon pouch that he wears around his waist to break the doorknob open. Still, nothing happened.

_Locked… _Robin thought to himself, as his palms started to sweat and tremble.

Robin turned around again and tried to find a hidden exit, _There has got to be at least one exit somewhere…if not in this room, I will just kill myself with a knife and end this nightmare already! Nobody won't have to know anything...not even Queen Marie…_

All of a sudden, all the candles in this room have been lit; the room appeared to be brighter now. Robin looked up right away with a scared look on his face, wondering what his fate will be.

The room was suddenly cold…no…_bone-chillingly _cold. Robin held on tight to his blue overcoat, and then proceeds forward.

The room was bigger than he realized, since it was brightly lit, the room was slightly wider, and then when he came to, he suddenly noticed a beautifully decorated bed that's on the other side of the room.

Robin, looking like an undead gargoyle, crept up slowly towards this enchanted bed.

His vision clears up just a bit, and to him, it appears to be that there is someone resting in it. He swore to himself that he saw the covers were moving.

_What…? There's someone here…? _

Robin thought as he got closer and closer by the second. As he stood near the foot of the bed, he took deep breaths and then he grasped for the beautiful satin sheets and pulled them off the bed.

Robin's eyes grew wide, there was a person sleeping in the bed after all.

Not _just _a sleeping person. He discovered Gail's body lying down on the bed.

However…Robin noticed something quite different about her. She wasn't in her formal red and white gown as she usually was; she was dressed a little differently.

She wore a very lacy nightgown, a pretty purple nightgown with some lace going down the middle of the dress, tied up in pink lace. There were white frills on the sleeves, silky to the touch. Frills also went down the skirt portion of this nightgown, she appeared to look like "Sleeping Beauty" just wearing that…

Robin sat down at the edge of the bed, placing his arm down on the mattress, trying to be careful not to hurt her after what he just did a few hours ago.

_Wow…_

Robin's eyes glistened brightly under the candlelight; _It's_ _the same girl I met at the party...the one that has dark hair the color of roses…_

A smile came to his face as he continued to look down at her, she was so jaw-droppingly gorgeous he couldn't help but look away. To Robin, this feeling was very new to him.

But he didn't have a clue what it was.

All he did was stare at the untouched beauty, _The way she sleeps…_ he began to think to himself, _…something about the way she sleeps really…that just looks so beautiful…I…never seen anything like this before…_

Robin leaned over for a closer look at her face, and then he bent down some more…and then some more…and then…

Just as he stopped midway in reaching her untouched red lips, the door creaked right open. Robin sprung upright and off the bed as he hears it.

"Robin." A guard answers to Robin after standing a few inches away from the bed.

"Y…yes?"

"Queen Marie would like to see you now."

"Um…sure, okay then…"

The guard leaves, but forgets to close the door behind him. A trail of light enters the room, and then Gail's body becomes even brighter. It looked like she was a life-size doll. To Robin, she almost seemed to just look unreal…however, she wasn't.

Robin looked at Gail, sleeping on the bed so peacefully, and said, "You may not be able to hear me…but…"

He cut-off mid-sentence and then his blue eyes were covered up by his long bangs and suddenly…a tear trickled down his cheek.

Shaken up by this new feeling, he answered weakly, "…I'm sorry…"

He started walking; his footsteps were the only sound echoing in this huge dome. Nothing else…

As he reached the foot of the door, he took a quick glance past his shoulder again, to just see her beautiful self laying down in the soft bed, and then he gently closes the door behind him…and all remained still.

* * *

*She says, "Nothing is heavy to those who have wings…she flies with her own wings. While there is life, there is hope. I believe it because it is absurd…I struggle and I emerge. Let your light shine, truth is my light. Know thyself…thus you shall go to the stars…words fly away, writings remain."

**She says, "Holy Spirit, I came…I saw…I conquered!"


	12. The Rose's Vengeance Pt 1

**_Stage 12: The Rose's Vengeance_**

_Part One: Exiled_

'_Dear Sir or Mademoiselle or to anyone that obtains this letter—_

_Hello.'_

Robin started to skim through this very weird introduction of this letter; fingering every single thing he read in about two seconds (he tried to look serious in front of the other Musketeers and the Royal Staff…but he was actually trying to avoid the room full of angry stares).

"Andddddd _why _did you make me read this again my Queen?" Robin asked with a confused, shy look on his face.

Queen Marie made a fake, smug look and said, "We found this outside along with Miss D'Costa after she had shed inches of blood…it appears she's been getting these strange notes everyday…keep reading."

Robin stammered and pressed his lips together and continued reading on. He placed his entire left arm on the desk and ran his fingers through his mousy burnt-orange hair (he tried to avoid the angry eyes totally).

'_I know this may seem a little bit on the unprepared side, but I will keep dropping by every night leaving notes like these for the Rose you picked. All I ask is that she sends a simple response and I will stop sending these. So on and so forth. Please, if you are the Rose Girl, please respond. To anyone else that gets this letter, give it to Rose Girl I have some urgent news for her.'_

_Hmmm… _Robin thought after recognizing that this letter was written by an anonymous person. He scratched his head and said to the angry crowd (with a serious look and his eyes closed)

"This has nothing to do with me. This letter." Robin answers professionally and confidently.

However, a royal official rises from his seat and places both hands on his desk (he tried to avoid getting upset) and says, "I beg your pardon but…I feel as if you haven't thoroughly explained yourself yet. I think you ought to restate whatever you just said."

Robin, rolling those innocent calm blue eyes of his, calmly places the note on the corner of his desk, says, "Fine. What I am trying to tell all of you is that, this is not my letter. I haven't _seen _this letter when I was with the girl. So if you think trying to rat me out with a personal letter for a maid or a lady-in-waiting or…whatever position she's in…you guys are so wrong."

The royal official, however, he doesn't seem to be amused with what Robin said a few moments ago. Trying to avoid screaming again, he pretends to clear his throat and gives Robin a sharp glance.

Robin does not seem to care really. He shot the official the same look in return.

"Young lad, what kind of crap are you pulling out among us? Have we done any wrong to disturb you? I mean, we are just a bunch of good, kind people that take care of each other…as a family actually. If you are telling us…people who were on this earth _before you were born _you're the one who's sadly mistaken. Besides, it's not just me, but this entire room saw you with that girl, and that there was nobody else around to give her a letter but you."

The official seemed to make his argument clear, and he seems content with his choice of words. However, this angered Robin a lot and so he kicked his chair away from him and slammed his desk with both of his hands with a lot of force input.

The entire courthouse went completely silent.

"_Now you _listen to me." Robin eyes the official as if he (Robin) was a hawk waiting to watch his next prey (the official) about to make a mistake and become his lunch.

The official gives him the "I-don't-care" smile; he pretty much assumes he has this argument in order.

Robin grinds his teeth for a split second, and then continues, "If you people think that _I _have a lot to do with this letter, you guys are all a bunch of heartless liars! Especially you, Mr. Royal-Official-Who-Doesn't-Even-Have-A-Name, you are such a _bloodthirsty damned snake! _You tell worthless bullshit that doesn't even have anything to do with me! You just won't let me explain myself for God's sake! And if you have recognized the handwriting, that _isn't_ even mine! My cursive handwriting isn't as perfect and flawless as written in this piece of paper!"

"Well at least I don't go in people's way and shooting them in the heads with a flintlock pistol whenever I so please!"

Robin makes a fist and you could see the bones shaping up on the top surface of his hand, "…"

"Yeah kid, that's what I thought. No matter what happens the adults are always right, and the kids are always wrong. _Always. _Don't think you can win in this little game of chess, because…you can't win. I will always have the winning piece kiddo, don't you forget it the next time you try to rub your smug face in people's businesses."

Outraged, Robin's eyes widened and he ran towards the official unarmed.

"You… heartless…BASTARD!"

The official turned around and then Durand and D'eon emerged from the crowd and grabbed both of Robin's arms trying to hold him back from being beaten again.

Robin, in such a tremendous outrage, trying to break through from his fellow musketeers' grasps but he couldn't. If he tried harder they would hold him tighter until he broke into fresh hot tears.

"You _miserable _son of a bitch. You _dare _to try to bring me down? That's so pathetic and unruly of you to do that to somebody older than you!"

"I don't give a fuck about age!" Robin roared at the top of his lungs. "What's with you and your love of telling every child or teenager in the world that we are all so brainless and stupid? That's what's being so unruly! It's _no wonder _that teenagers these days are becoming rebellious! Adults just don't give shit about what happens to us or what they have to say because there is _always _some fucking life story behind every one of them!"

The whole courthouse's sudden uproar died down. No more angry stares but one. The royal official seemed to look really fumed about it now.

"You bloodthirsty brat, you…swine! I hope they punish you real good, I hope they strip you from your current status; you deserve to live in the slums with the dirtiest bitches known to man! The Bastille is where you belong!"

Suddenly, Robin broke free from his friends' grasps (but only for a few seconds like two-three seconds) and then he started screaming.

"I HOPE THEY STRIP YOU FROM YOUR STATUS! I HOPE THAT ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD THROW STONES AND BRICKS INTO _YOUR_ WINDOWS, BREAKING ONE BY ONE UNTIL THERE ARE NO MORE WINDOWS LEFT TO BREAK! I HOPE THAT ONE DAY THERE IS A GUILLOTINE READY AND HAS YOUR NAME SIGNED IN DIRTY BLOOD! IT WOULD BE ME SERVING YOUR HEAD ON A SILVER PLATTER, THAT'S RIGHT, ME!"

Now Robin seemed content with his point, however, Robin felt a huge kick into the spinal cord, and then Robin winced in pain and sank a little, with Durand and D'eon still holding him up and very tightly.

"That's enough Robin." Durand answered with a low tone.

The official had nothing else to say but gave Robin a smug grin. He considered not letting Robin's words sink into his heart. He knew that it would mean a sign of weakness.

So, what did he do now? With a flip of the cape, he and some supporters of his own left the room in an ordinary fashion. Making things super obvious, they pretended that the Musketeers didn't exist.

And the Musketeers watched those men until the two large marble doors closed from behind them.

* * *

Just a few hours later after the courthouse mishap, far more…stranger things have happened to the Four Musketeers.

First of all, some of the noblemen that hang around in the courtyards all day with Teillagory would do absolutely nothing (other than play meaningless card games and drink glasses of wine for a living) decided to spend their day by themselves without Teillagory joining them and instead given him such uncalled for names. The most popular one they've used so far is "Bloodthirsty Barbarian". (Pathetic isn't it?)

Second, some of the ladies that would usually follow Durand decided to avoid him when he goes on his daily stroll in the main hallway. Durand felt uneasy with all of the glares of the Ladies-In-Waiting.

Third, when D'eon came to visit his newly wedded wife, Anna, even she appeared to look uncomfortable to see him. Sylvia and the others grabbed Anna by the arm and escorted her downstairs even without saying a word to him. D'eon could've sworn he heard Sylvia say, "You bastard child!"

Finally, there has been so much scribbled hate mail sent into Robin's estate, his own headquarters in the palace ever since he was adopted into the royal family. After Robin read one of the letters, his heart sank, and decided then and there to let the letters sit and collect dust.

This kind of thing brought tears to Robin's eyes. He had a feeling in his gut all along that whatever Durand told him a couple days ago…is right.

"_What's up with you Robin?" Durand answers with a serious tone, he literally sounds like Robin's father or something. "Ever since our reunion as the Four Musketeers, you've been acting quite different lately…you weren't even the same Robin that I remembered before after when we went our separate ways."_

Robin sank into a chair and run his hand through his hair. A tear that he tried to hold back was released too fast and it streamed down his face and it kept going and finally reached his hand, and then the arm…slowly going and gone like that.

For a few minutes he posed like that, until there was a knock at his door.

"Come in…" Robin answered so softly that even a wind chime could block the sound of his whisper.

However, that person wanting to come in heard him well and opened the door.

Robin removed his hand away from his face; there was now a pink hand mark on his left cheek. His eyes blurry and deep into despair…

When he came to, Robin looked up at the person and said, "M…my queen…Queen Marie…"

Queen Marie didn't say anything, but she did walk up to him very slowly.

Robin looked down at his feet, his bangs shrouding his face.

But then he felt fingertips gently pressed onto his forehead, and brushing the bangs away from his face and behind his ears.

Robin looked up, his eyes still glistening, his tears becoming dry within seconds. And then, the Queen wiped the fresh tears away with her thumb.

"Why…"

Robin answered to her with a whisper. Queen Marie looked at Robin with a tiny smile on her face, meaning "Everything's going to be fine dear…I'm sure of it…"

Robin looked deep into the wise eyes of the queen. Even if he felt shunned by the rest of the staff and royal family…he still feels like there is a little bit of hope and love…

And Queen Marie is giving it all, just like a true mother would've done.

Breaking the silence, Queen Marie says, "Robin…I fear like there has been some word about trying to get rid of you for good for what has happened last night…"

Confused and smitten, Robin looked at the Queen if she was being serious or not. She gives a small nod meaning that she is being serious, so Robin decided to not talk but listen to her instead.

"Robin, I fear that things would get worse for you and the other Musketeers if you stay here in the palace any longer…you have to go somewhere…a little farther from here, where nobody could ever find you…anywhere is fine but not inside of Paris, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Robin nods, feeling uneasy about what's happening now.

"Okay…good. Because…I've already got some of my ladies to pack your things and your friend's things as well. Yes, it did take some time to get them to help me, but I least I pushed for you. All I have to say is…you should just leave for now until things have settled down. Crazy things happen here believe it or not."

"Yeah…I've noticed…" Robin says with a sigh.

Queen Marie doesn't say anything else but tosses him a blue cloak.

"You may need this…especially since you'll depart in an hour…before people start to wake up."

* * *

Meanwhile…

Somewhere outside the courtyard, there was a rustle in between the bushes. A head full of leaves and silver hair emerge out of the bush.

It was the young teen from a few hours back. When he came to, he checked to see where was he been the whole time.

"Damn…" He whispered to himself, "I…"

"I'M ALIVE! YEAH-HAH!"

He got out of the bushes and skipped around (he was a hundred percent oblivious to what just happened when he was knocked out) and danced like a lunatic, he did it all.

Right in the middle of the young teen's merry moment, Anna was out on a stroll for some fresh air, and then she glanced over the young teen and looked stunned.

_Where did he come from? _Anna thought, looking very surprised and confused. _I don't recall ever meeting this person before…and he has a crown of leaves on his head…?_

The young teen continued to dance and skip all around the courtyard and then when he decided to take it easy he opened his eyes and looked towards Anna.

_Shittttt, I've been caught!_


	13. The Rose's Vengeance Pt 2

**_Stage 13: The Rose's Vengeance_**

_Part Two: Crazy Smiles_

- _**Flashback Starts **_-

_Robin started to skim through this very weird introduction of this letter; fingering every single thing he read in about two seconds (he tried to look serious in front of the other Musketeers and the Royal Staff…but he was actually trying to avoid the room full of angry stares)._

"_Andddddd why did you make me read this again my Queen?" Robin asked with a confused, shy look on his face_.

* * *

_The royal official, however, he doesn't seem to be amused with what Robin said a few moments ago. Trying to avoid screaming again, he pretends to clear his throat and gives Robin a sharp glance._

_Robin does not seem to care really. He shot the official the same look in return._

"_Young lad, what kind of crap are you pulling out among us? Have we done any wrong to disturb you? I mean, we are just a bunch of good, kind people that take care of each other…as a family actually. If you are telling us…people who were on this earth before you were born you're the one who's sadly mistaken. Besides, it's not just me, but this entire room saw you with that girl, and that there was nobody else around to give her a letter but you."_

* * *

"_Now you listen to me." Robin eyes the official as if he (Robin) was a hawk waiting to watch his next prey (the official) about to make a mistake and become his lunch._

_The official gives him the "I-don't-care" smile; he pretty much assumes he has this argument in order._

* * *

_Robin makes a fist and you could see the bones shaping up on the top surface of his hand, "…"_

"_Yeah kid, that's what I thought. No matter what happens the adults are always right, and the kids are always wrong. Always. Don't think you can win in this little game of chess, because…you can't win. I will always have the winning piece kiddo, don't you forget it the next time you try to rub your smug face in people's businesses."_

_Outraged, Robin's eyes widened and he ran towards the official unarmed._

_The official turned around and then Durand and D'eon emerged from the crowd and grabbed both of Robin's arms trying to hold him back from being beaten again._

* * *

_Suddenly, Robin broke free from his friends' grasps (but only for a few seconds like two-three seconds) and then he started screaming._

"_I HOPE THEY STRIP YOU FROM YOUR STATUS! I HOPE THAT ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD THROW STONES AND BRICKS INTO YOUR WINDOWS, BREAKING ONE BY ONE UNTIL THERE ARE NO MORE WINDOWS LEFT TO BREAK! I HOPE THAT ONE DAY THERE IS A GUILLOTINE READY AND HAS YOUR NAME SIGNED IN DIRTY BLOOD! IT WOULD BE ME SERVING YOUR HEAD ON A SILVER PLATTER, THAT'S RIGHT, ME!"_

_Now Robin seemed content with his point, however, Robin felt a huge kick into the spinal cord, and then Robin winced in pain and sank a little, with Durand and D'eon still holding him up and very tightly._

"_That's enough Robin." Durand answered with a low tone._

- _**Flashback Ends **_-

* * *

Robin looks up at the ceiling, in a trance.

A mix of thoughts is jumbled up inside his head, he had nothing to do, but stare at the small cracks in the upper corner of the white marble ceiling.

A few minutes later, Robin had the strength to finally sit upright again. He put some of his hair back behind his ear, and then he stood up and walked toward his desk.

Sitting down in a creaky, wooden chair, he opened up a small light blue book with silver swirly designs on the front of it. Inside was a fresh white page with nothing written on it.

_It's been a while since I last picked up a book… _Robin thought while he was running his fingers in between pages.

He just sat there in the same pose for the next three minutes or so…playing with the pages of the new book.

But then, he stopped and grabbed a pen off the desk.

He quickly opened up the book to the first, clean page and then he started to write down something:

_**January 11, 1749**_

_**Hello there. My name is Robin.**_

_**The main reason to why I am writing down all of this is because I am in hiding. Also because I want to write down everything I have experienced so far in case if something ever does happen to me. So if anything DOES happen to me, this book will let somebody know where to find me…**_

_**Alright, so, it's been a week and a half ever since I have left the palace. It was raining that day, and it was the bumpiest trip ever. I remember there was a bunch of pebbles all over the ground, and the horse carriage my friends and I were in made it impossible to get some sleep on most nights.**_

_**Well…unless if we were in a nearby town or city, and if there was an inn, that was pretty much our entire heaven just for one whole night. (Every night I would usually go to bed around seven or eight at night, I really need my sleep…can't live without that…and I might as well have to make the best out of it.)**_

_**However, things seem to be okay despite what my friends and I have gone through. I admit the road to getting here was really tough.**_

_**I had some cold shoulders from Durand a couple of times, but...I can deal with him. He is just as annoying as usual anyway. I have D'eon and Teillagory that have my back; they are just more fun to be around with all the time.**_

_**The tower that we are staying in is alright too. Queen Marie really outdid herself when she found us the safest place to stay far away from Paris…at least for quite some time. A tower consisted of five bedrooms and a main hall…is probably the best we've got. I don't care what we have in this tower as long as I have some food, my friends, and a bed to sleep in I will be the happiest guy on the planet.**_

_**But…I still feel like I am not the happiest guy on the planet…**_

_**Sometimes, I just wonder why…**_

Robin put down his pen and just sat there, with an empty look on his face.

His heart sank, and then grabbed the collar of his gray fleece shirt. He immediately started sweating, and then jumped out of his chair and rushed to open the door and out towards the balcony.

The balcony doesn't have much, but a very solid granite flooring with white marble railings, and a decadent array of decaying gargoyle statues holds up the arched railing.

However, the view was beyond outstanding. There were rows and rows of bushy mulberry trees for miles around; past the trees you could see a clear, solid lake. It appeared to look very still to the eye, for it had a silver lining near the shore, and tints of orange, pink, purple, and blue. And there was at least one tiny ripple in the lake.

Robin looked out towards the horizon, and his long, burnt orange hair brushed up against his neck and his cheeks. He took a deep breath, and then he exhaled.

Inside his coat pocket, he took out his silver pocket watch that Durand graciously gave him years ago. He opens it and it still ticks.

_Amazing that it never died yet…it just keeps ticking…_ Robin thought while examining the pocket watch.

He stuffed it back inside his coat pocket and then looked out some more.

_But…what could this mean? _Robin thought to himself. _Is something amiss happening or what…? I feel like there's something out there that is looking for me…and only me…I feel really scared…._

Robin sighed. _Maybe I am just imagining things…I don't think anybody gives a damn about looking for me anyway…if I go back to that palace, it's off with my head._

"Robin!" D'eon called from inside Robin's room, "Teillagory and I came back with some food. You want to eat? Or you want to eat later?"

Robin hastily walked inside his room. "Well…I haven't eaten in awhile…sure. I guess having a snack or two wouldn't hurt."

* * *

_Shittttt, I've been caught!_

The young teen panicked. But as for Anna, she seemed to be more confused then ever.

"How did you get yourself in here?" Anna answered, raising her voice.

"I…ummmm…" The young teen stammered.

"Did you come here to steal the king's money? Or did you come here on an unauthorized tour of the palace? Sorry, but we aren't giving any tours right now. There was a late night crisis that people are trying to resolve right now. Here, let me show you the door." Anna answers with a stern look.

"…" Lucien cringes when he looks at Anna.

_What a bothersome toad-lipped lady. _The young teen thought when he looked at Anna's face. _Looks like I have to get past her so I can get to Lovely Rose._

"Ahh, I remember my first time being caught by the guards…" The young teen started to say. It caught Anna's attention pretty quickly.

"I'm listening." She said, crossing her arms.

"They locked me in a dungeon…" He continues, trying to sound very innocent. "And…they tortured me until I told them why I was trespassing."

"What a very sad story!" Anna says, pursing her lips and then she makes a glare, "Sorry but, I know that you're lying to me."

"I still have scars to prove it. Want to see?" The young teen says with a huge cheesy grin on his face.

"Okay, I don't know what your deal is, but it's obvious that you aren't up to any good. You can be pretty devious about getting what you want." Anna started, "If you think that you can just dance around with every woman you see, I'm not going to let you pass, just get out!"

The young teen let out a smirk, "For your information, I am not _that young_. But you're probably right. Maybe I don't need sympathy from an old hag like you. I'll hopefully find someone else that would understand what I've gone through." He lied.

"OLD HAG?" Anna yells, "I will _let you know _that I am a recently married woman!"

"A recently married woman that has no such sympathy for children. What will happen when you and whoever your unfortunate husband is…will have children?"

"You nasty little…! Do you have at least any clue about who are you talking to? I'll let you know that I help babysit young Prince Auguste almost everyday whenever I can! My husband is a handsome young knight and bodyguard and musketeer and just loves me for who I am! And we plan to settle on kids of our own one day! I don't need…some bratty kid trying to make a fool out of me."

The young teen fans his hands, "What am I, five? 'Brat' seems so overrated. Waaaaay too overrated. Study your vocabulary woman and maybe then we can have a friendly conversation."

Anna held her breath, she was about to explode with anger. She let out a deep sigh, and then she suddenly couldn't take it anymore and exploded.

"Okay…first you call me ugly, and then you call me a brainless idiot. What the _hell _is your deal? What the _hell_ is it that you even want?"

"I'm going to make you a deal." The young teen answers, "If you stop raising your voice at me and stop calling me such dumb names, then I will leave in peace and pretend that we've never even met. If you don't accept my offer, I wouldn't mind going rummaging the whole palace and picking up a nice souvenir. But it's really your call…so, what do you choose?"

Anna let out a groan, "Fine. Whatever."

The young teen scoffed, "Not with _that _kind of attitude. You're still not acting like a proper lady-in-waiting. If you really want me out of here you might as well say my name and politely ask me to leave."

Anna, with a frustrated face, fighting to control herself from exploding said, "Fine…what is your name…?"

She even shot back at him an evil-looking smile to make things more promising.

"My name is Lucien Descartes." He said stroking his silvery hair. "Now, can you please tell me what you plan to do this evening?"

Anna looked at him, almost losing it. "Okay, _Monsieur Lucien. _That wasn't part of the deal."

Lucien yawned, "Oh? But with that kind of attitude isn't enough to make me leave. Please answer my question before I decide to stay overnight."

Anna groaned, and started to mumble. And then she said, "Al-_right_! Fine! My plans this evening is to pick up my evening dress from the washroom, get myself pampered for a fancy feast, and then prepare some meals for my husband and his friends who have been recently banned until things have settled down."

"Oh, sounds…pretty first-class. Not to mention….LAME." Lucien let out a little laugh.

"..." Anna let out an annoyed sigh, "…_Now_ can you please leave before I get the guards?"

"Okay fine." Lucien scoffed, "But if we possibly do meet again – _let's hope not _– then I ought to see you have a better attitude around me. I don't like feisty, I prefer sophisticated."

Anna glares, but Lucien doesn't seem to notice. He opens the door with a pin that he grabs out of his coat pocket.

"See you."

He closes the door behind him, leaving Anna in the midst of everything.

Anna, on the other hand, still continued to keep her gaze on that door. _Lucien Descartes…what a suspicious character…_

* * *

"So…did you try reaching to her?"

Lucien turns around, trying to jab loose the pin that got stuck on the door. It was Sonny, standing before him, in her spiky-short-purple hair glory. Her blue cloak flows against the wind softly touching her back.

However, Lucien stands firm.

"Chloe…why are you here? And what do you even want with Mademoiselle Rose?"

Sonny frowns, "You know very well my name is _Sonny_. Stop calling me Chloe. Chloe is _NO MORE_."

She kicks Lucien in the stomach, as he falls to the ground, blood dripping from his bottom lip. He presses his lips together to taste the rusty, red liquid. He continues to keep his gaze on her.

"Foolish child." She laughs, "You find Lovely Rose. Otherwise…" Sonny stops talking for the next minute to pull out a vile of silver liquid. "This vile here…it goes down the drain."

Lucien's eyes widened with fear, and shakily answers, "But you _wouldn't_!"

Sonny makes an evil grin, "Oh, but I _would. _And…time is running short. You better make use of it before this tiny vial, along with the other in supply…goes _down the drain_. So…you better get to it."

And just like that, in a shroud of purple aura, Sonny vanishes, leaving Lucien in the midst of the palace grounds.

Lucien, still in an aftershock, couldn't say more other than, "_Damn you_!"


End file.
